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Sustainability Research Strategy 











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UBRARY OF CONGRESS 


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EPA 600/S-07/001 I October 2007 



Sustainability Research Strategy 

Office of Research and Development 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 
Washington, D.C. 


c, • 



To download this report 
and learn more about 
EPA programs 
that support 
sustainability, 
please visit 

www.epa.gov/sustainability 


Foreword 


Within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Research and Development (ORD) has a central role in 
identifying, understanding, and helping to solve current and future environmental problems. The Sustainability Research 
Strategy (SRS) describes ORD’s approach to some of the most pressing current and future national environmental issues. 
Science and technology are two key elements in ensuring that people understand the full environmental implications 
of their actions and will help ensure that sound decisions are made by individuals, communities, companies, and 
government agencies. ORD presents this Sustainability Research Strategy to improve understanding of the earth’s natural 
and man-made systems, to assess threats to those systems, and to develop and apply new technologies and decision 
support tools. 

The focus on sustainability research recognizes the changing nature of environmental challenges that society faces today. 
In the past ERA focused its actions more directly on specific pollutants, their sources, and causes. More recently, and 
into the future, the Agency must provide information to help address a broader set of environmental issues involving 
population and economic growth, energy use, agriculture, and industrial development. Capably addressing these 
questions, and the tradeoffs they will entail, requires the new systems-based focus on science and analysis outlined in 
the Sustainability Research Strategy. 

EPA is an agency with a strong internal research capability. The ability to directly link research and policy in one agency 
puts EPA in a good position to lead on environmental sustainability. ORD leads the research element in that linkage; 
by thinking and operating strategically, it plays a vital part in forming and driving the policy element. This research 
strategy recognizes that system-wide thinking is required to ensure our goal of promoting and achieving environmentally 
sustainable decisions at home and around the world. 


George Gray 

Assistant Administrator for Research and Development 


1 



Acknowledgments 

We acknowledge and thank the drafting team of Gordon Evans, Douglas Young, Heriberto Cabezas, Michael Gonzalez, 
Frank Princiotta, Cynthia Gage, and Tim Johnson (National Risk Management Research Laboratory); Diana Bauer and 
Julie Zimmerman (National Center for Environmental Research); Anita Street (Office of Science Policy); and Donna Perla, 
Richard lovanna, and Edward Fallon (Office of the Assistant Administrator) for preparing this research strategy. 

Gary J. Foley 

Director, National Center for Environmental Research 
Sally Gutierrez 

Director, National Risk Management Research Laboratory 
Alan D. Hecht 

Director, Sustainable Development 


2 



Peer Review History 

Peer review is an important component of developing a research strategy. The following is the peer review 
history for this document: 

Office of Research and Development Science Council 

September 7, 2005 

ERA Science Policy Council 

November 21, 2005 

External Peer Review Science Advisory Board (SAB): 

June 13-15, 2006 


Environmental Engineering Committee Augmented for Sustainability Advisory 

Dr. Michael J. McFarland, Utah State University, Logan, UT, Chair 

Chartered SAB Members 

Mr. David Rejeski, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC 
Dr. Thomas L. Theis, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 
Dr. Valerie Thomas, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 

Members of the Environmental Engineering Committee 

Dr. Viney Aneja, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 

Dr. David A. Dzombak, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 

Dr. T. Taylor Eighmy, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 

Dr. Michael Kavanaugh, Malcolm Pirnie, Inc., Emeryville, CA 

Dr. Catherine Koshland, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 

Dr. Reid Lifset, Yale University, New Haven, CT 

Dr. Mark Rood, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 

Dr. John R. Smith, Alcoa Technical Center, Alcoa Center, PA 

Member of SAB Ecological Processes and Effects Committee 

Dr. William Mitsch, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 

Member of SAB Environmental Economics Advisory Committee 

Dr. Anna Alberini, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 

Peer Review Coordinator 

Ms. Kathleen White, Designated Federal Officer, EPA SAB Staff, Washington, DC 



Acronyms 


BOSC 

Board of Scientific Counselors 

CNS 

Collaborative Science and Technology Network for Sustainability 

EDS 

Environmental and Decision Sciences 

EERS 

Environmental Economics Research Strategy 

GEOSS 

Global Earth Observation System of Systems 

ISA 

Integrated Systems Analysis 

LCA 

Life Cycle Assessment 

LTG 

Long-Term Goals 

MFA 

Material Flow Analysis 

MYP 

Multi-Year Plan 

NACEPT 

National Advisory Committee for Environmental Policy and Technology Policy 

NEPA 

National Environmental Protection Act 

NPD 

National Program Director 

ORD 

Office of Research and Development 

P3 

People, Prosperity, and Planet Student Design Program 

RoE 

Report on the Environment 

SAB 

Science Advisory Board 

SRS 

Sustainability Research Strategy 

STS 

Science and Technology for Sustainability 


"4 



Table of Contents 


Foreword.1 

Peer Review History .3 

Acronyms .4 

Table of Contents .5 

Executive Summary. 6 

Chapter 1 Introduction and Purpose .11 

Describes the strategy’s organization and its national benefits 

Chapter 2 Rationale for the Strategy .15 

Assesses the impact of selected future stressors and justifies the need 
for sustainable use of resources 

Chapter 3 Definition and Scope .21 

Defines an EPA context for sustainability 

Chapter 4 Six Research Themes .25 

Defines six sustainability research themes 

Chapter 5 Research Objectives .37 

Describes how ORD will organize its research activities 

Chapter 6 Roadmap for Implementation .47 

Describes ORD’s roadmap for implementing the Sustainability Research Program 


5 














( 


Executive Summary 

Chapter 1. Introduction and Purpose 

We make decisions on a daily basis that affect the quality of our own lives as well as the lives of future generations. These 
decisions determine how sustainable our future will be. To assist governments, businesses, communities, and individuals 
in making sustainable choices, our Sustainable Research Strategy aims to develop an understanding of the earth as a 
natural system and craft models and tools to support sustainable decision making. Our strategy incorporates both core 
research that advances fundamental understanding of key biological, chemical, and physical processes underlying 
environmental systems, and problem-driven research that targets specific environmental problems or customer needs. 
The research strategy draws on and integrates across the many research programs within the Office of Research and 
Development and focuses this research to support sustainable decision making. 


Chapter 2. Rationale for the Strategy 

A combination of forces—including unprecedented growth in population, economy, urbanization, and energy use—are 
imposing new stresses on the earth’s resources and society’s ability to maintain or improve environmental quality. In 
order to improve environmental protection, human health, and living standards, our generation must move to mitigate or 
prevent the negative consequences of growing population and economy. The increasing stresses require new approaches 
to environmental protection that go beyond end-of-pipe control strategies concerned principally with pollutant emissions. 
Based on our understanding that environmental problems are rarely contained within a single resource or geographic 
area, we must develop and implement integrated and systems-based approaches to meet society’s needs today and 
ensure a more sustainable future. 

Chapter 3. Definition and Scope 

The concept of sustainable development marries two important insights: environmental protection does not preclude 
economic development; and economic development must be ecologically viable now and in the long run. Sustainable 
development, which requires an integration of economic, social, and environmental polices, cannot be achieved by 
any single federal agency, because it relies on policy coherence across government agencies. ERA’S contribution to 
sustainability is to protect human health and the environment for both this and future generations. Our Sustainability 
Research Strategy rests on the recognition that sustainable environmental outcomes must be achieved in a systems- 
based and multimedia context that focuses on the environment without neglecting the roles of economic patterns and 
human behavior. This recognition begets a fundamental change in research design. In a systems-based approach, the 
traditional goals of achieving clean air or water or protecting ecosystems and human health can be fully understood 
only through a multimedia approach. ERA and its partners will develop integrating decision support tools (models, 
methodologies, and technologies) and supporting data and analysis that will guide decision makers toward environmental 
sustainability and sustainable development. 


6 



Chapter 4. Six Research Themes 


Emphasizing an integrated and systems-based approach to achieving sustainability, 
we focus on six broad research themes. 

2. Renewable Resource Systems. The sustainability of natural systems is critical to protecting human health, supporting 
our economy, and maintaining our quality of life. Sustainability demands that we determine how best to obtain the 
benefits that renewable resources provide, while considering the system-wide effects their use has on the regenerative 
capacity of the entire system. Three of our research strategy aims are especially relevant to renewable resources: (1) 
defining clear measures of sustainable renewable systems, (2) improving understanding of ecosystem processes and 
services, and (3) developing and applying advanced systems models and tools for decision making. 

2. Non-Renewable Resource Systems. The extraction, processing, and use of fossil fuels, minerals, and other materials 
are critical elements of our economic life. Sustainability calls for greater conservation and efficient use of these non¬ 
renewable resources, as well as greater reliance on renewable energy, development of substitutes for toxic and 
dangerous materials, and an emphasis on management of materials rather than disposal of waste products. Our strategy 
seeks to promote sustainable management of non-renewable resource operations and to support the shift to renewable 
resources. The research will include life cycle assessment and material flow analysis; application of models to assess the 
regional impacts of various energy sources on emissions and air quality; and development of alternative chemicals and 
new industrial methods. Climate change research and assessment, a major global sustainability issue, will continue to be 
a collaborative effort of many programs at ERA and other agencies. 

3. Long-Term Chemical and Biological Impacts. The intergenerational dimension of sustainability means that society must be 
mindful of the long-term threat posed by chemical and biological impacts on the environment. Improving our use of materials, 
shifting to environmentally preferable materials, and protecting human health all rely on assessing and eliminating the long¬ 
term impacts posed by harmful chemical and biological materials. Our research will aim to develop alternate chemicals and 
new industrial processes, as well as decision support tools for evaluating the environmental dimensions of the new chemicals 
and processes. It will also employ life cycle assessment and material flow analysis to evaluate environmental releases from 
industrial systems and nanomaterials. 

4. Human-Built Systems and Land Use. The growth of urbanized areas over the past century has shown that human- 
built systems can significantly harm ecosystems and undermine their ability to provide critical services. This strategy will 
include research on topics such as sustainable building design and efficiency, management of urban systems, life cycle 
assessment for building design and land use, and decision support tools for urban land development and revitalization. 
ORD scientists and engineers will work directly with key customers and stakeholders who can most benefit from our 
research capabilities in these areas—such as those at state and local levels responsible for myriad decisions on urban 
development, land use, and provision of public services. 



( 


5. Economics and Human Behavior. Since the sustainable management of natural and man-made systems depends on 
human behavior and choice, our research strategy is closely linked with research in economics and behavioral science, 
such as developing ecosystem valuation methods and analyzing the role of incentives in decision making and the causes 
of market failures. Research in this area is led by ORD’s Economics and Decision Science Research Program. Activities 

in the Sustainability Research Strategy will be closely coordinated with this program. ' 

6. Information and Decision Making. The establishment of an information infrastructure of sustainability metrics and 
environmental monitoring is a necessary component of any strategy advancing sustainability. EPA’s Draft Report on 
the Environment (RoE) provides snapshots of the existing environmental state. Metrics are defined in relation to clearly 
stated questions such as, “What are the conditions and current trends of surface waters?” and, “What are the trends in 
the ecological processes that sustain the nation’s ecological systems?” As EPA moves toward identifying a set of clearly 
articulated questions related to sustainable outcomes—such as, “How sustainable are the nation’s water supplies?”— 
research can focus on identifying appropriate indicators and ensuring their quality. Our strategy is also closely linked with 
the Global Earth Observation Systems of Systems (GEOSS) program. GEOSS will effectively take the pulse of the planet by 
compiling a system of ail relevant databases (or systems), thus revolutionizing our understanding of how the earth works. 

Over time, GEOSS will contribute greatly to sustainability by providing important scientific information for sound policy 
and decision making in every sector of society. 


Chapter 5. Research Objectives 

The five principle research objectives of our research strategy represent areas of strong ORD competence. Our research 
aims first to advance systems understanding—to better comprehend the interconnections, resilience, and vulnerabilities 
over time of natural systems, industrial systems, the built environment, and human society. Second, our research aims 
to further develop decision support tools to assist decision makers. A third key element of our strategy is to develop and 
apply new technologies to address inherently benign and less resource-intensive materials, energy sources, processes, 
and products. Fourth, our research is committed to collaborative decision making. We aim to develop an understanding 
of motivations for decision making and to craft approaches to collaborative problem solving. Fifth and finally, our research 
strategy emphasizes developing metrics and indicators to measure and track progress toward sustainability goals, to send 
early warning of potential problems to decision makers, and to highlight opportunities for improvement 


8 



Chapter 6. Roadmap for Implementation 

Our Sustainability Research Strategy builds on ORD’s traditional focus on risk assessment and risk management and 
dovetails with ERA’S commitment to stewardship and sustainable outcomes. The strategy supports shifts by program 
offices toward developing sustainable water infrastructure, managing materials rather than waste, managing ecosystems 
and ecoservices, and emphasizing green chemistry and urban sustainability (including green building design and low- 
impact development). To implement this research strategy we will take the following steps: 

• Demonstrate the value of sustainability research by identifying key national issues where application of sustainability 
approaches can be most effective in promoting sound and sustainable economic growth. 

• Advance core sustainability research and development of new tools and methodologies by transitioning the current 
Pollution Prevention and New Technologies Research Program into the Science and Technology for Sustainability 
Research Program. 

• Leverage all ORD resources by coordinating and integrating research across ORD that builds a critical knowledge 
base for sustainability, such as identifying synergies, gaps to be filled, and high-priority emerging areas among 
existing research strategies. 

• Leverage all EPA resources by coordinating and strengthening collaborations and partnerships—with EPA program 
and regional offices, other federal agencies, state and local governments, communities, industry, nonprofit 
organizations, universities, and international partners—that address critical sustainability issues and stimulate 
broader progress toward sustainability in both research and implementation. 


9 










Chapter 1. Introduction and Purpose 


This chapter relates the Sustainability Research Strategy to the mission of the Office 
of Research and Development and describes the research strategy’s goals, outcomes, 
and organization. 


Sustainability and the ORD Mission 

From the perspective of the Office of Research and 
Development, the science of sustainability is developing 
the underlying knowledge base that allows decision 
makers to make sustainable choices. For natural resource 
managers, this means how to manage our resources to 
provide maximum services today and in the future. For 
urban planners, this means how to build cost-effective 
and efficient urban systems that protect both human 
health and the environment. For decision makers in 
industry, this means how to enhance economic growth 
while minimizing industry’s footprint on the environment. 
The science of sustainability aims to anticipate problems 
and promote innovation. A 1997 National Academy of 
Engineering report suggests the path to sustainability 
“involves the creative design of products, processes, 
systems and organizations, and the implementation of 
smart management strategies that effectively harness 
technologies and ideas to avoid environmental problems 
before they arise. 

ORD conducts cutting-edge research and fosters the 
use of sound science and technology to fulfill the 
Agency’s mission of protecting human health and 
safeguarding the natural environment. ORD research 
is a mix of (1) core research that seeks to advance 
fundamental understanding of key biological, chemical, 
and physical processes that underlie environmental 
systems; and (2) problem-driven research that focuses 
on specific environmental problems or customer needs. 
The Sustainability Research Strategy encompasses 
both core and problem-oriented research, aiming first 
at understanding biological, physical, and chemical 
interactions through a systems approach; and second, 
developing effective models, tools, and metrics that 
enable decision makers to achieve sustainable outcomes.^ 


This important goal of helping society make good 
decisions was identified by the 1998 House Committee on 
Science report. Unlocking Our Future: 

While acknowledging the continuing need for science 
and engineering in national security, health and the 
economy, the challenges we face today cause us to 
propose that the scientific and engineering enterprise 
ought to move toward center stage in a fourth role; 
that of helping society make good decisions. We 
believe this role for science will take on increasing 
importance, as we face difficult decisions related to 
the environment.^ 

Recent external reviews of two other ORD research 
programs have re-emphasized the theme of this 
congressional guidance. The 2005 reviews by ORD’s 
Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) of the Ecological 
Research Program and Global Change Research Program 
both emphasized a need for activities that lead to “wise 
decision-making” and that are “demand-driven and 
participatory."'* 


* National Academy of Engineering, The Industrial Green Game: 

Implications for Environmental Design and Management. Washington: 
National Academies Press, 1997 

^ National Research Council, Building a Foundation for Sound 
Environmental Decisions. Washington: National Academies Press, 
1997. 

^ Unlocking Our Future: Toward a New National Science Policy. 
Washington: House Committee on Science. September 24, 1998. 

'* The BOSC review of ORD’s Global Change Research Program noted: 
“Two underlying themes have surfaced in the Program’s approach to 
its work. The first is that its emphasis now and for the future should 
be on decision support—improving the ability of those who control 
actions to make wise choices in the face of global change through 
provisions of useful research and activities. The Subcommittee 
concludes that this is the right emphasis and that it should be a 
guiding star for the efforts of this Program. The second emphasis is on 
stakeholder involvement—being ‘demand-driven’ and participatory.” 
Board of Scientific Counselors, Review of the Office of Research 
and Development’s Global Change Research Program at the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency: Final Report. (March 27, 2006). 
www.epa.gOv/OSP/bosc/pdf/glob0603rpt.pdf 


11 





Purpose of the Strategy 

Recognizing its responsibility to lead ERA in science 
applications for decision making, ORD management 
identified two objectives for this research strategy: 

• Develop a crosscutting sustainability research plan 
that will tie together the ORD multi-year plans (MYPs) 
that concern component parts of sustainability; and 

• Develop a revised MYP for Pollution Prevention (P2), 
entitled “Science and Technology for Sustainability,” 
that will Identify new annual and long-term goals and 
annual performance outcome measures to better 
focus pollution prevention and innovative technology 
on sustainability. 

In moving to establish an integrated sustainability 
research program across ORD, management recognizes 
three challenges: (1) defining clear and comprehensive 
sustainability goals that are meaningful to EPA and that 
connect the dots among existing ORD research strategies; 
(2) initiating and leveraging new activities within a limited 
range of budget options; and (3) overcoming a tradition of 
media-specific (“stovepipe”) approaches to environmental 
problems. 

Through this strategy, ORD aims to address these 
challenges by defining sustainability within EPA and 
identifying research priorities and management steps 
necessary to achieve the dual national goals of supporting 
a growing economy and advancing environmental 
protection. 

Stakeholder Input and Strategy 
Goals and Outcomes 

This Sustainability Research Strategy was derived from 
input gathered through internal and external activities: 

• Consultation with regional and program offices on the 
types of research that can provide the greatest benefit 
to their programs. 


• Recommendations of the EPA Science Advisory 
Board (SAB) and Board of Scientific Counselors 
(BOSC), 

• Review of the sustainability research literature and 
consultation with outside experts, 

• Review of EPA-sponsored workshops related to 
sustainability, and 

• Review and consultation with other national 
governments, the European Commission, and 
multilateral organizations. 

Economic Benefits 

The economic benefits of applying sustainable 
management practices for current and future energy 
construction, greenhouse gas emissions, material and 
chemical use, ecosystems services, and health protection 
are only now being fully appreciated. For example, by 
2030 new and replacement building development will 
amount to 204.1 billion square feet, equal to almost 
90 percent of the built space that existed in 2000. 

All of this amounts to about $30 trillion in total new 
development (including infrastructure) that will occur 
between 2000 and 2030. A new focus on biofuels as 
an energy source will demand new infrastructure and 
transportation systems in nearly all ecozones of the United 
States. Rebuilding the aging U.S. water infrastructure 
will translate into billions of dollars. EPA’s Clean Water 
and Drinking Water Infrastructure Gap Analysis (2002)^ 
estimated that if capital investment and operations and 
maintenance remain at current levels, the potential 
funding shortfall for drinking water and wastewater 
infrastructure could exceed $500 billion by 2020. 


^ www.epa.gov/waterinfrastructure 


12 





Aiming to affect present and future economic 
development and encourage sound taxpayer and public 
investment, the research strategy seeks to advance these 
goals; 

• Improve understanding of earth systems to better 
protect human health, manage natural resources, 
and design 

cost-effective and sustainable policies; 

• Enable ERA, states, and communities to more 
successfully envision, plan, develop, manage, and 
restore their infrastructure and spaces so that human 
health and quality 

of life, and the quality of air, water, and land are 

protected 

for the future; and 

• Design, manufacture, and manage chemicals and 
materials so as to protect the environment and public 
health, prevent pollution, and conserve resources, 
while advancing global competitiveness and societal 
objectives. 


Criteria for measuring the success of this research 
strategy and the companion ORD MYPs are outlined in 
Goal V of the 2006-11 ERA Strategic Plan2 


Goal V of the ERA Strategic Plan for 2006-2011 

Objective 5.4: Enhance Society’s Capacity for 
Sustainability through Science and Research. 

Conduct leading-edge, sound scientific research on 
pollution prevention, new technology development, 
socioeconomics, sustainable systems, and decision¬ 
making tools. By 2011, the products of this research 
will be independently recognized as providing critical 
and key evidence in informing Agency polices and 
decisions and solving problems for the Agency and its 
partners and stakeholders 

Sub-objective 5.4.2: Conducting Research. Through 
2011, conduct leading-edge, sound scientific 
research on pollution prevention, new technology 
development, socioeconomics, sustainable systems 
and decision-making tools. The prgducts of this 
research will provide critical and key evidence in 
informing Agency policies and decisions affecting the 
Agency programs in Goal 5, as well as ERA partners 
and stakeholders. 


° www.epa.gov/ocfo/plan/plan.htm 
^ www.epa.gov/indicators/roe 


13 








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Chapter 2. Rationale for the Strategy 


A host of far-reaching, interrelated, and complex factors—such as growing human 
populations, increases in waste production, growing energy demands, and land 
development—are all contributing to stresses on the earth’s natural systems. Protecting 
human health and safeguarding the natural environment in the face of these stressors is 
a national priority—and a daunting challenge. 

To meet this challenge, EPA’s Sustainability Research Strategy explores an integrated, 
scientific approach to defining and achieving sustainability goals in six key natural 
resource systems; energy, air, water, materials, land, and ecosystems. 

Given the breadth of existing ORD research activities, this chapter explains the rationale 
for the new strategy, concluding that a more crosscutting and system-oriented research 
strategy is needed to address existing and emerging environmental problems. 


Externalities Affecting the 
Environment 

Water, air, land, and energy research are interrelated and 
affected by a host of externalities related to economic 
growth, demographic changes, and energy use. Economic 
growth is essential for maintaining social well-being; how 
this growth is achieved determines a society’s quality of 
life. Most countries have clearly learned that sustainable 
environmental polices are an essential component of 
sound economic growth. Research that supports this goal 
is thus an area of national priority. 

When EPA was founded in 1970, the U.S. population 
was just over 203 million; in 2006 it reached 300 million, 
reflecting a 35-year increase of nearly 50 percent. 

This growth, however, has not been distributed evenly. 
About one-third of the U.S. population resides in the 17 
Western states, which include seven of the nation’s 10 
fastest growing states. Through 2030 the population of 
the Southwest is projected to increase as a proportion of 
the U.S. population. The population increase has already 
greatly affected the allocation and use of resources. 
Approximately one acre of land becomes urbanized or 
otherwise developed for each additional U.S. inhabitant. 
Many Western and Southwestern states with rapidly 
expanding population are also experiencing urban 
expansion, increasing energy demand, and diminishing 
water resources.® The U.S. population is also aging, 
thereby creating new needs for health and human 


services. These changes require a heightened awareness 
of potential future challenges, especially increasing 
demand for water and energy in much of the nation. 

World population and economic growth will expand rapidly 
during the coming decades. Global population is expected 
to increase by nearly 40 percent by 2050. By 2030 more 
than 60 percent of the world’s population will live in 
cities, many in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where the 
urban populations will grow from 1.9 billion people to 3.9 
billion people. Economic growth in the “BRIO” countries 
(Brazil, Russia, India, and China) will significantly impact 
future global and trans-boundary environmental issues. 
Over the next 30 years, while the U.S. per capita GDP is 
expected to increase by 60 percent, the per capita GDP 
in China and India is projected to increase nearly tenfold.^ 
Together these changes will place considerable stress on 
the earth’s resources and on humanity’s ability to maintain 
or improve environmental quality. Unless steps are taken 
to address the consequences of growing populations and 
economies, the resilience of the global ecosystem will be 
undermined. The challenge is to prevent or minimize the 
potential negative consequences. 


® Population data is taken from Mark T. Anderson and Lloyd H. Woosley, 
Jr., Water Availability in the Western United States. U.S. Geological 
Survey Circular 1261. Washington: USGS, 2005. http://pubs.usgs. 
gov/circ/2005/circl261 

^ Dominic Wilson and Roopa Purushothaman, Dreaming with BRIGS: 
The Path to 2050. Goldman Sachs Global Economics Paper No. 99. 
October 2003. wvvw.gs.com/insight/research/reports/report6.html 


15 





Table 2.1. Proposed Sustainable Outcome Measures 


n 

Natural Resource Systems 

Sustainable Outcomes 

Energy 

Generate clean energy and use it efficiently. 

Air 

Sustain clean and healthy air. 

Water 

Sustain water resources of quality and availability for desired uses. 

Materials 

Use materials carefully and shift to environmentally preferable materials. 

Land 

Support ecologically sensitiveJand management and development. 

Ecosystems 

Protect and restore ecosystem functions, goods, and services. 


Achieving Sustainability 

This challenge means that achieving sustainable 
environmental outcomes must be a long-term national 
environmental goal. This is a key goal of the r\ew EPA 
report, Everyday Choices: Opportunities for Environmental 
Stewardship, in which senior EPA managers identify 
sustainable outcomes in six resource systems relevant 
to the Agency’s mission. The report is the first explicit 
statement of EPA senior leadership focused on 
recommendations for sustainability outcomes that the 
nation should seek. While much more discussion and 
debate will be needed to refine these goals, the report’s 
linkage of stewardship with sustainable outcomes has set 
a direction for future policy development and research. 
The sustainable outcomes outlined in the report are 
listed in Table 2.1. 

The possibility of achieving these outcomes will be 
greatly affected by the trends presented in Table 2.2. For 
example, growing population and GDP will significantly 
impact the six resource systems. Population increases 
will affect how and where land is developed and thus the 
viability of ecosystems. Population growth has historically 
led to increased use of energy, water, and materials— 
and increased production of waste, leading to greater 
pollution of air, water, and land, with associated negative 
consequences for ecosystems and human health. 


Economic growth has usually required greater quantities 
of energy, materials, and water from expanded agriculture 
and industry, leading to more waste, toxics, and pollution 
of air and water. The land and ecosystems change as 
materials are extracted, goods produced, infrastructure 
built, and wastes disposed of. 

EPA’s 2003 and 2007 draft reports on the environment 
outlined U.S. successes in environmental protection and 
identified many remaining challenges and data gaps. 
Table 2.2 lists examples of trends identified in this report 
for each of the six resource areas, revealing a few of the 
many potential stresses stemming from the expected U.S. 
population and economic growth. Other potential impacts 
of stressors on the environment have been identified 
through a survey of EPA senior program officers and from 
external future studies. 


Everyday Choices: Opportunities for Environmental Stewardship, 
Innovation Action Council Report to the Administrator, November 
2005. www.epa .gov/epa i n nov/pdf/rpt2ad m i n. pdf 

www.epa.gov/indicators 


16 





















Table 2.2. Potential Consequences of Growing U.S. Population and GDP 



Natural Resource Systems 

Current Trends 

Consequences Projected 

Over 20 Years 

Energy 

In the last 30 years energy consumption 
has increased by 42%. 

Between 1982 and 2001, NOx emissions 
rose by 9%, primarily from increased 
diesel fuel use. 

Demand for petroleum, natural gas, and 
coal each will increase by 25-40%. 

Passenger miles driven and number of 
road vehicles will increase by 30-40%. 

C02 emissions will grow by 28%. 13 

Air 

133 million people live in areas with air 
quality not meeting NAAQ standards 
(indoor air pollution is associated with 
asthma in children). 

Increased transportation demand will 
increase NAAQS exceedances; between 

23 million and 33 million additional 

housing units will be needed. 

Water 

408 billion gallons of water per day 
are withdrawn. 

Excess nitrogen and phosphorus have 
degraded aquatic life in 2.5 million acres 
of lakes and 84,000 miles of rivers and 

streams. 

In some areas, existing water supplies 
will be inadequate to meet demands for 
people, cities, farms, and the natural 
systems and biota. 14 

Reduced water availability is projected to 
impede electric power plant grovyth.l5 

Materials 

MSW over the last decade MSW has 
leveled at 4.5 Ibs/person/day. 

Waste systems are managing growing 
quantities of toxic chemicals. 

Under “business as usual” scenarios, a 
24% projected increase in population will 
result in a comparable increase in total 
waste generation. 

Land 

The pace of land development between 
1992 and 1997 was more than 1.5 times 
the rate of the previous 10 years. 

About 10% of forested land is expected 
to be converted to urban and developed 
use. 16 

Ecosystems 

Coastal wetland area has decreased by 

8% since the 1950s. 

One third of native species are at risk. 

Flux of nitrogen to coastal ecosystems 
will increase by 10-20% worldwide. 

Species extinction rates are projected to 
be ten times higher than current rate. 17 


Extracted from the 2003 Draft Report on the Environment Technical Document. Washington: 

ERA, 2003. www.epa.gov/indicators/roe/html/tsd/tsdTOC.htm 

Department of Energy. Annual Energy Outlook 2004. DOE/EIA-0383(2004). January 2004. www.econstats.eom/EIA/AE02004.pdf 
Department of the Interior, “Water 2025: Preventing Crises and Conflict in the West." www.doi.gov/water2025 
Electric Power Research Institute, 2001. www.epri.com 
Climate Change Science Program, 2003 

United Nations, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Washington: Island Press, 2005. www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.aspx 


17 



























Table 2.3. Linkages Among Resource Systems 


1 

Resources Under Stress 

Potential Response to the Stressed Resource System 

Energy 

Air 

Water 

Materials 

Land 

Ecosystems 

Energy 

(increased use) 


Increased 

pollutants 

Increased 

demand 

Increased 

extraction 

Extraction 

impacts 

Extraction 

impacts 

Air 

(increased pollutants) 

Increased 

energy for 
cleanup 


Pollutant 

deposition 
from air 

Increased 

demand. 

Degradation 

Waste 

disposal 

Increased 

negative 

impacts 

Water 

(increased pollutants) 

Increased 

energy for 
cleanup 

Transfer of 

pollutants 
from water 


Increased 

demand. 

Degradation 

Waste 

disposal 

Increased 

negative 

impacts 

Material 
(increased use) 

Increased 

demand 

(processing 

energy) 

Increased 

pollutants 

Increased 

demand, 

Increased 

pollutants 


Extraction 

impacts. 

Waste 

disposal 

Increased 

negative 

impacts 

Land 

(increased development) 

Increased 

demand 

Increased 

pollutants 

Increased 

pollutants, 

Runoff 

Reduction 

of 

resources 


i 

Reduction 

of resource 

Ecosystems 
(decreased availability) 

Increased 
energy for 

restoration 

Reduced 

natural 

processing 

capacity 

Reduced 

natural 

processing 

capacity 

Reduced 

renewable 

resources 

Erosion 



18 




























Even as population and GDP impact a particular resource 
system, that system in turn interacts with other areas in 
complex, dynamic, and interrelated ways. For example, 
since 1971 each 1 percent increase in worldwide GDP 
has resulted in a 0.64 percent increase in energy use. 
Most of the energy has been produced from fossil 
fuels, so the increased energy use has led to greater 
emissions of air pollutants from the combustion of these 
fuels. Nearly half of U.S. water withdrawals are used for 
cooling power plants and water is also used to scrub air 
pollutants from flue gas; so rising energy use increases 
both demand for and pollution of water. Extraction of 
fossil fuels from the earth requires use of more materials, 
changes the surrounding land, and produces more 
wastes (i.e. unwanted materials). Finally, increased energy 
use impacts ecosystems through such factors as silt 
runoff from energy extraction activities and the decline 
in water quality caused by runoff from mining facilities. 
Such response impacts are shown in the first row of 
Table 2.3. Interactions like these demonstrate forcefully 
that a systems approach offers the best strategy for 
understanding environmental impacts and for designing 
cost-effective and sustainable policy responses. 

Sewerage provides another example of interaction 
among resource areas. As shown in Table 2.3, polluted 
sewer water requires energy for cleanup; air pollutants 
of methane and nitrogen compounds are produced, and 
solid waste is generated and typically sent to landfills. 
Finally, sewerage overflows can impact ecosystems. These 
examples illustrate how a change in one resource area 
can negatively reverberate through other areas. 

The Need for a Systems Approach 

Ensuring continued improvement in environmental 
quality and in the protection of human health under these 
increasing stresses requires new approaches. Fortunately, 
this is not without precedent, as approaches to 
environmental protection have evolved over the decades 
to meet emerging challenges and the advance of science. 

In its early years, ERA developed end-of-pipe strategies 
that targeted emissions of pollutants from, for example, 


smokestacks and sewer lines. As these strategies 
matured, new problems were recognized, and were met 
accordingly with new upstream approaches, such as 
waste minimization and pollution prevention. 

As additional environmental stressors were recognized, 
the evaluation and choice of pollution control and 
mitigation options required greater understanding of the 
overall context of problems. This led to the development 
of life cycle assessments, which demonstrated that 
the vast majority of environmental problems are not 
contained within a single resource area or within a single 
product’s life cycle, but extend across multiple areas 
and timeframes. It is now clear that a more integrated 
approach to environmental protection is needed. 

As environmental protection has become more complex, 
the Agency has evolved, moving from point-source 
pollution controls associated with particular industries 
to larger problems of regional emissions, such as 
those associated with agricultural operations, urban 
transportation, and emerging contaminants. Successfully 
meeting all of these challenges—significant increases in 
stressors, impacts across resource areas, emissions from 
diffuse sources, and emerging contaminants—will require 
a continued evolution in how environmental protection 
approaches sustainability. 

Is the problem of sustainability urgent? Does it address 
the national interest? There is no doubt that improving 
the health and well-being of people today and in the 
future, while growing the economy and protecting 
natural resources, is a national priority. Prudent scientific 
management would suggest launching a program aimed 
at better understanding the linkages among the six 
resource systems and developing effective means to 
disseminate and apply the research results. 


19 






















Chapter 3. Definition and Scope 


ORD focuses its sustainability research portfolio on capturing and quantifying systems 
dynamics, assessing and managing variability, and understanding resilience of 
systems to stresses and disturbances, both expected and unexpected. Sustainability 
research is an essential foundation that incorporates new research approaches with 
the established foundation of ORD’s existing research focused on individual media 
(land, air, and water). 

Sustainability research will focus on six broad crosscutting themes that are 
coordinated with ORD’s economic and behavioral science research and global 
monitoring programs. 


Toward Sustainable Development 

The concept of sustainable development marries two 
important insights: (1) environmental protection does 
not preclude economic development; and (2) economic 
development should be ecologically viable.^® Sustainable 
development also addresses the question of trade-offs 
between the welfare of people today and the welfare of 
people in the future. In the words of the 1987 report 
Our Common Future —better known as the Brundtiand 
Report—development is sustainable when it “meets the 
needs of the present without compromising the ability of 
future generations to meet their own needs. 

Sustainable development fosters policies that integrate 
environmental, economic, and social values in decision 
making. The National Environmental Protection Act 
(NEPA)—drafted in 1969 before EPA was established— 
provides that the federal government, in partnership 
with the states, should “use all practicable means and 
measures... to create and maintain conditions under 
which man and nature can exist in productive harmony, 
and fulfill the social, economic, and other requirements 
of present and future generations of Americans.” This 
NEPA provision is implemented in today’s federal policies 
and actions that promote stewardship and collaborative 
problem solving. Subsequent legislation and executive 
orders have directed federal agencies to pursue sustainable 
management of federal facilities and to measure and report 
on economic, environmental, and social responsibilities of 
their operations.On January 24, 2007, President Bush 
signed Executive Order 13423, “Strengthening Federal 


Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management,” 
which sets goals in the areas of energy efficiency, 
acquisitions, renewable energy, toxics reductions, recycling, 
sustainable buildings, electronics stewardship, vehicle 
fleets, and water conservation. The order directs heads 
of federal agencies to implement sustainable practices in 
these areas, echoing the NEPA goals expressed in 1969 
by specifying that “sustainable”means” “creatfing] and 
maintainting] conditions, under which humans and nature 
can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the 
social, economic, and other requirements of present and 
future generations of Americans.The Government 
Accountability Office has also recently assessed the 
role that federal agencies are playing in complementing 
U.S. business goals of promoting global corporate social 
responsibility.^^ 


Dan Esty, “A Term’s Limits.” Foreign Policy. September/October 2001, 
pg. 74-75. 

World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common 
Future. London: Oxford University Press, 1987. 

Emil J. Dzuray, et al., “Achieving Sustainability of Government 
Operations," LMI Research Institute Report IR 521 Rl. September 
2005 

21 wvvw.whitehouse.gOv/news/releases/2007/01/20070124-2.html 

Government Accountability bffice. Globalization: Numerous Federal 
Activities Complement U.S. Business Global Corporate Social 
Responsibility Efforts. GAO-05—744. Washington: August 2005. 


21 





Environmental Sustainability 

EPA has moved steadily over the past 36 years to ensure 
that its policies and programs are responsive to changing 
environmental stresses. U.S. environmental policies 
have evolved from reliance on la\A/s and regulations 
requiring only compliance, to new emphasis on policies 
and incentives that encourage industry to go beyond 
compliance. Growing use of market-based economic 
instruments, voluntary programs, public reporting by 
industry, and creative public-private partnerships are 
bringing a new era of environmental management. Former 
Administrator William K. Riley, however, noted, 

I don’t think we will be able to say, in the popular 
phrase of the moment, that we have attained a 
sustainable level of development until we function in 
harmony with these ecosystems, and learn to keep 
them productive... We are not, nor ought to be, 
fundamentally about reducing this effluent or that 
emission, but rather about protecting the totality of 
the environment.^^ 

The Brundtiand Report recognized that environmental 
protection is different from, but related to, sustainable 
development: “Environmental protection and sustainable 
development must be an integral part of the mandates of 
all agencies of government, of international organizations, 
and of major private-sector institutes.”2'' Sustainable 
environmental policies are critical for achieving 
sustainable development. EPA and ORD are in position 
to lead those policies by developing a strong research 
foundation that contributes to policies supporting 
sustainable development. 

This Strategy will promote environmental sustainability 
by seeking outcomes that protect and enhance the 
resilience of natural systems to environmental stress and 
that reduce the industrial and urban burdens on the 
environment. 


Sustainability Research 

The research strategy’s definition of sustainability 
research can be clarified through an analogy with non- 
traditional research being conducted in the investment 
and insurance communities. Traditionally, these sectors 
allocated resources and managed risk with a principle 
focus on short-term performance and economic 
measures, ignoring a host of external social and 
environmental factors. Today they have a growing interest 
in the-impact of extra-financial issues on long-term risk 
and investment. For example, Swiss Re, the leading 
reinsurance firm, has declared that “unsustainable 
development increasingly needs to be understood as 
having the potential to substantially change the risk 
landscape,” and has launched an extensive research 
program on the early detection and assessment of 
environmental and health risks. 

In the investment world, asset owners and managers 
have formed the Enhanced Analytics Initiative, an 
international consortium aimed at encouraging better 
investment research, especially research focused on 
"... the alignment of management and board with long¬ 
term company value, the quality of human resources 
management, risks associated with governance structure, 
the environment, branding, corporate ethics and 
stakeholder relations. 


William K Reilly. Oral History Interview, “Ecosystem Management." EPA 
202-K-95-002. September 1995. www.epa.gov/history/publications/ 
reilly/21.htm 

World Commission on Environment and Development, pg. 311. 

Swiss Re, Sustainability Report 2004. Zurich: Swiss Re, 2005 (p. 9). 
Swiss Re has built an extensive research program around detection 
and assessment of risks. Its SONAR research project (Systematic 
Observations of Notions Associated with Risk) is an extensive data 
analysis and systems study that can detect risk signals too weak to 
show up on the radar screen of a wider audience. See 2004 Report, 
page 9. www.swissre.com/INTERNET/pwsfilpr.nsf/vwFilebylDKEYLu/ 
MSTN-6DFKHP/$FILE/Sustainability_Rep_04.pdf 

The Initiative currently represents companies with managing assets 
of more than US$1 trillion (See www.enhancedanalytics.com/Fiesta/ 
EDITORIAL/20060630/CommPresse/PR15_lnvestecjoinsEAL190506. 
pdf). Quote is from David Blood and Al Gore, “It is Essential that 
Investors Look to the Long Term,” www.ft.com, July 6, 2005; 

Financial Times, July 7, 2005. www.generationim.com/media/ 
pdf-ft-david-blood-al-gore-07-07-05.pdf. 


22 




The insurance and investment sectors are both promoting 
"better research for better investment decisions”—an 
approach based on future projections, capturing system 
dynamics an6 points of leverage, and assessing and 
managing variability and uncertainty. EPA can learn 
and benefit from such forward-looking, system-oriented 
research that broadens the application of risk analysis to 
reflect a wider range of environmental and social issues. 

ORD’s Sustainability Research Strategy mirrors the 
expanded research goals of cutting-edge insurance and 
investment firms, because sustainability research similarly 
seeks “to promote more Informed and sustainable 
decisions.” Like the financial sectors, ORD must project 
the impact of future economic and demographic changes 
on natural and man-made systems to help decision 
makers attain more sustainable outcomes.^^ Research in 
the realms of insurance, investment, and environmental 
protection aims to connect the dots to better understand 
how systems work and how they are affected by change. 
ORD sustainability research aims to capture system 
dynamics, manage variability and uncertainty, and 
understand system resilience to foreseen and unforeseen 
stresses. Improved scientific understanding must be 
translated into useable outcomes. To do this, EPA and 
its partners will develop integrating decision support 
tools (i.e. models, methodologies, and technologies) that 
produce the data and understanding to help decision 
makers shift toward practices promoting environmental 
sustainability, and ultimately, sustainable development. 


Emphasizing a systems approach to achieving sustainable 
environmental management, we focus on six broad 
research themes. 

• Renewable Resource Protection 

• Non-Renewable Resource Conservation 

• Long-Term Chemical and Biological Impacts 

• Human-Built Systems and Land Use 

• Economics and Human Behavior 

• Information and Decision Making 

“Shaping our Environmental Future: Foresight in the Office of 
Research and Development." Washington: EPA, 2007. 

WWW. e pa .gov/os p/ef utu re. htm 













Chapter 4. Six Research Themes 


To promote the integration of research across disciplines and existing ORD research 
programs, and to underscore the importance of a systems approach to future 
planning, this chapter serves three important functions: 

• It identifies priority research topics related to the sustainable outcomes 
presented in Table 2.1 and the six research themes described in Chapter Four. 

• It identifies existing ORD and ERA research programs that relate to the 
research questions (Table 4.1). 

• It describes ho\N this Research Strategy and the focus on sustainable 
environmental outcomes advance ongoing ERA efforts. 


Achieving any one of EPA’s proposed sustainable outcome 
measures (shown in Table 2.1) will be a formidable 
challenge, for there are no technological “quick fixes” 
offering simple solutions to any of these outcomes. 

Instead, research across physical science, economics, 
social science, and other disciplines must be combined 
in meaningful ways. In turn, the resulting science must 
be made available to decision makers and integrated into 
effective public policy. 


By itself, ORD can address only a small part of the overall 
research required to advance sustainability, but it can 
partner with program and regional offices and other 
federal and state agencies and can use its research 
results, methods, and tools to assist clients both inside 
and outside EPA in pursuing sustainable outcomes. 


25 




Table 4.1. Sustainability Research Themes Addressed by Multi-Year Plans 


• - Some Association • • - Strong Association | 

National Program 
Director (NPD) Area 

Multi-Year Plan 

Renewable Resources 

Non-Renewable Resources 

Chemical & Biological 

Impacts 

Human-Built Environment 

Economics & Behavior 

Information & Decisions 

Air 

Air Toxics 


• 


• 



Particulate Matter 


• 


• 



Tropospheric Ozone 


• 


• 


• 

Global Change & 
Mercury 

Global Change 

• 

• 


• • 

• 

• 

Mercury 


• 

• • 




Water Quality 

Water Quality 

• • 


• 




Drinking Water 

Drinking Water 




• • 



Human Health 

Human Health 



• • 



• 

Ecological Risk 

Ecological Research 

• • 


• 



• 

Pesticides, Toxics, & 
ECDs 

Endocrine Disrupters 



• • 




Safe Pesticides 



• • 




Toxics 



• • 




(not an NPD area) 

Computational Toxicology 



• • 




1 

Contaminated Sites/ 

1 

Resource Conservation 

Contaminated Sites 







Hazardous Waste 



• • 




Economics and Decision 

Sciences 





• • 

• • 


































Table 4.2 shows the extent of existing ORD multi-year 
plans. The following sections discuss how these programs 
relate to each other and to the sustainability research 
questions. An example of the possible integration (and 
leveraging of resources) among existing ORD research 
strategies—the coordination of the Sustainability Research 
Strategy and the Economics and Decision Sciences 
Strategy—is illustrated in Figure 4.1 near the end of this 
chapter. 

1. Natural Resource Protection 
(Air, Water, Ecosystems) 

The health and well-being of all societies depends on 
ecosystems and the services they provide. Natural 
resources are an essential support for a nation's 
economy and quality of life. Where natural systems are 
undermined, the economic and social well-being of 
people is threatened. This is true at local levels, where 
the expansion of urbanized areas is undermining the 
ecological integrity of ecosystems by bringing about 
declines in biological diversity, degradation of water 
quality, and loss of other ecological services. It is also true 
at regional levels, where unsustainable industry and urban 
development are threatening the long-term health of great 
water bodies like the Chesapeake Bay and the Great 
Lakes. And it is certainly true on a global scale, where 
widespread ecosystem loss may affect global atmospheric 
processes and human health. 

The natural resource basis is a complex and dynamic 
system of plants, animals, and the physical environment 
that interact with each another. Lessons learned over 
the years on different approaches and techniques for 
managing natural resource systems, at both small and 
large scales, demonstrate the need to better understand 
the resilience of a natural system to “tolerate disturbances 
while retaining its structure and function.Achieving 
sustainability in managing natural systems therefore 
requires a better understanding of the complexity of these 
systems, including their critical thresholds, resilience, 
and adaptability. 


In a sustainable world, society greatly benefits from 
ecosystem services at all levels, from local flood control 
to global climate protection. A critical test of society’s 
ability to sustainably manage its natural resource base is 
fast approaching. The president’s “Twenty by Ten” goal 
is to reduce gasoline usage by 20 percent over the next 
ten years, with 15 percent of the reduction achieved 
through use of renewable or alternative fuels and 5 
percent from vehicle efficiency improvements.^^ A longer- 
term research and technology goal is to make cellulosic 
ethanol cost-competitive with corn-based ethanol by 
2012 and to replace at least 30 percent of the 2004 level 
of gasoline demand by 2030.^° These transitions will 
require large supplies of sustainable feedstock, major 
feedstock and conversion technology advances, large- 
scale integrated biorefinery demonstrations, and massive 
new infrastructure development that will affect land use 
and ecosystems. Given these policy directions, it will be 
important for ERA and ORD to assess how to produce, 
harvest, and deliver current biomass, or an estimated 1 
billion dry tons of cellulosic biomass, in an economically 
and environmentally sustainable way. 


Joseph Fiksel, “Designing Resilient, Sustainable Systems," 
Environmental Science & Technology. 37 (December 2003), 
5330-5339. 

Regarding the 15 percent from renewable or alternative fuels, the 
35 billion gallon would be required if all the fuel were ethanol. 
However, replacement and alternative fuels are expected to include 
ethanol and biodiesel, as well as fossil based alternatives such as 
coal-to-liquids, gas-to-liquids etc, and also include domestic 
production as well as imports. 

See: www.whitehouse.gOv/stateoftheunion/2007/initiatives/energy.html 
and Breaking the Biological Barriers to Cellulosic Ethanol: 

A Joint Research Agenda. Washington: DOE /SC-0095, 2006 


27 




None of these challenges are new to EPA, which has 
made healthy communities and ecosystems one of its 
five key long-term goals. Existing EPA programs extend 
from protecting ecosystems from risks posed by the 
release of harmful substances, to expanding and restoring 
ecosystems. Filling gaps in current EPA and federal 
agency programs, the Sustainability Research Strategy 
aims to sharpen the focus on achieving sustainable 
management of renewable resources by setting three 
goals: (1) defining clear measures of sustainable 
renewable systems; (2) improving understanding of 
ecosystem processes and their impacts on human health; 
and (3) developing and applying advanced systems 
models and tools to assist decision makers. 

Efforts to achieve the first goal are tied to building 
consensus within EPA on terms and definitions. ORD is 
leading an EPA-wide effort to more clearly define outcome 
goals and measures. Efforts to achieve the second goal 
depend on greater coordination of existing efforts across 
ORD, EPA program and regional offices, and universities. 
Efforts to achieve the third goal depend on expanded 
in-house ORD research and collaboration with ORD 
customers and stakeholders. 

Current ORD systems research aims to address complex, 
long-term environmental problems in ways that go 
beyond traditional compliance and pollution prevention 
approaches to those that focus on sustainable outcomes. 
This effort builds on a growing body of academic research 
that has demonstrated how the integrated assessment 
of a sustainable system cannot be accomplished by 
simply linking together a collection of domain-specific 
models. Research on the bio-complexity in large lake 
systems shows that new modeling approaches are 
needed.^^ Frontier interdisciplinary research in EPA's 
Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program is exploring 
the relationship among anthropogenic stressors within 
ecosystems, changes in host or vector biodiversity, and 
infectious disease transmission.^^ 

This new research focuses on understanding the 
environmental and social factors that contribute to 
biodiversity change, the population dynamics of animal 
reservoirs and vectors of disease, biological mechanisms 


that influence transmission of diseases to humans, and 
the processes by which infectious diseases emerge and 
spread. Research on the links between anthropogenic 
stressors, biodiversity, and infectious disease can have 
an important impact on our view of biodiversity, the 
services provided by natural ecosystems, and how we 
manage these resources to protect human health 
and the environment. 

PRIORITY RESEARCH TOPICS 

• Demonstrating and quantifying the value of 
ecosystem services in environmental protection and 
human health (informing decision makers). 

• Understanding long-term chemical and biological 
interactions and cycles among air, land, and water 
resources and their impact on biodiversity (systems 
analysis). 

• Exploring interactions among natural resource 
systems that may lead to unrecognized side effects of 
management initiatives, such as loss of soil resilience 
due to over-harvesting of biomass (systems analysis). 

• Modeling linkages between human-built and natural 
resource systems in terms of material and energy 
flows (systems analysis). 

• Understanding the resilience and adaptability of 
ecosystems to change (resilience and vulnerability). 

• Improving understanding and quantification of 
natural carrying capacity under various environmental 
conditions and human activity patterns (forecasting). 

• Developing early warning signs of critical system 
overloads beyond natural variability (forecasting). 

• Identifying trends that have been and are expected to 
continue affecting ecological processes that sustain 
ecosystems (forecasting). 

• Developing future regional scenarios and models 
integrating land, water, and ecosystems to assess 
impact on ecosystem services (forecasting). 


See Conference Report on “Toward Sustainable Systems." Ohio State 
University, March 2-3, 2006. 

See http://es.epa.gOv/ncer/rfa/2007/2007_biodiversity_health.html 


28 





2. Non-Renewable Resource 
Conservation (Energy and Materials) 

Each phase of non-renewable energy production 
(exploration, extraction, refining, transporting, and storing) 
and manufacturing affects the quality of air, the quality 
and availability of water, global climate, short- and long¬ 
term use of land, and resiliency of ecosystems. For these 
resources and processes, sustainability requires greater 
focus on conservation and enhanced use of renewable 
energy, greater emphasis on managing materials 
rather than disposing of waste products, and finding 
substitutes for toxic and dangerous materials. The historic 
consequences of unsustainable non-renewable resource 
management are evident in landscape modification, 
growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and 
climate change. Fossil fuel use, with its potential effects 
on climate change and environmental and human 
health, constitutes a vital long-term global sustainability 
issue. ERA’S role in addressing climate change is 
prescribed by the interagency U.S. Global Change 
Research Program.^^ Complementing this interagency 
program, the Sustainability Research Strategy will 
promote more sustainable management of nonrewable 
resource operations and enhance a shift to greater use of 
renewable resources. 

A new vision of how to sustainably manage nonrenewable 
resources is needed. The 1997 National Academy 
of Engineering report. The Industrial Implication for 
Environmental Design and Management, suggests that 
the path to sustainability “involves the creative design 
of products, processes, systems and organizations, and 
the implementation of smart management strategies 

that effectively harness technologies and ideas to 

« 

avoid environmental problems before they arise.” In 
Grand Challenges in Environmental Sciences (2001), 
the National Academy of Sciences recommended, 
“developfing] a quantitative understanding of the global 
budget of materials widely used by humanity and how the 
life cycles of these materials... may be modified.”^’* 

These concerns prompted the Office of Solid Waste 
proposal to shift its emphasis from managing waste to 


managing materials, and the Office of Pesticides and 
Toxics’ efforts to reduce toxic chemical use through green 
chemistry and other new technologies. Looking ahead, 
regulatory actions may further enhance a movement 
toward sustainable resource management. Several 
directives of the European Union that target reductions 
of hazardous materials and toxics and promote recycling 
may serve to promote additional research in use of 
alternative material, green chemistry, and life cycle 
analysis.^^ 

Consequently this research strategy will initially focus 
on core research methodologies, models, technology, 
and technological processes that can help to assess the 
impacts of energy and material use on the environment 
and to identify low-impact and other sustainable 
approaches to renewable resource management. 

PRIORITY RESEARCH TOPICS 
Core functions: 

• How can life cycle assessment be made more 
efficient, reliable, and comprehensive so that it will 
more effectively inform design decisions that lead 
to reducing or eliminating the use of non-renewable 
resources? 

• What innovative technologies or processes can be 
developed to improve the efficiency of non-renewable 
resource consumption (e.g., closed-loop recycling 

or energy efficiency in manufacturing and consumer 
products)? 


ERA’S research role in the U.S. Global Change Research Program is to 
assess the potential consequences of climate change for air and water 
quality, ecosystems, and human health. This program seeks to improve 
the scientific basis for evaluating the risks and opportunities presented 
by global change in the context of other stressors. A suite of ERA 
voluntary programs such as Climate Leaders develop industry strategies 
aimed at reducing the overall emissions of greenhouse gases. 

^ ERA Science Advisory Board, Commentary on Industrial Ecology, 

2002. www.epa.gOv/sab/pdf/eecm02002.pdf. Also SAB Review of 
Science and Research Budgets for FY 2007, March 30, 2006. 
www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/sa b-adv-06-003.pdf 

The Directives are Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 
(RoHS), Waste Electical and Electronic Directive (WEEE), and Directive 
on Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) 


29 




• For different sectors, what re-engineering processes 
can be designed to manage production and supply 
chains, reducing or eliminating the use of fossil fuels 
and other non-renewable resources? 

• How can material flow analysis and related methods 
provide better insight into opportunities for reducing 
or eliminating the use of non-renewable resources? 

• What tools can be used to operationalize the concept 
of industrial ecology, enabling systems-based 
understanding of energy and material flows? 

Material Balance: 

• What are the patterns and driving forces of societal 
use of non-renewable resources? 

• How can global scenarios of future industrial 
development and associated environmental 
implications be developed? 

• In what materials, products, places, and time scales 
can we expect significant change in material and 
energy use or their impacts? 

Energy: 

• What opportunities exist to replace non-renewable 
with renewable feedstocks and materials in an 
environmentally beneficial manner? 

• How can we ensure that societal shifts in material 
use—such as from petroleum to renewable 
feedstocks for energy and materials—do not lead to 
unforeseen and unsustainable consequences? 

• What tools are needed to develop, test, and measure 
the life cycle of a full suite of energy conversion 
technologies (using renewable and non-renewable 
energy sources)? 


3. Long-Term Chemical and Biological 
Impacts (Using Non-Toxic Materials 
Sustainably and Protecting Human 
Health) 

The intergenerational dimension of sustainability means 
that society must be particularly mindful of the long¬ 
term threat posed by chemical and biological impacts on 
the environment. Protecting environmental and human 
health from chemical toxicity has long been central 
to ERA’S mission. The inability of the environment to 
assimilate certain chemical compounds over time has 
serious implications for sustainability. A chemical pollutant 
released to the environment at a rate greater than the 
environment’s ability to recycle, absorb, or render it 
harmless is considered to be persistent. Other chemical 
compounds have a tendency to concentrate in the tissues 
of living organisms in the process of bioaccumulation. 
Chemicals that are either persistent or bioaccumulative 
increase the potential for adverse effects on human 
health or the environment, or both, because they can 
result in high levels of exposure. Chemicals that are both 
persistent and bioaccumulative result in the highest levels 
of exposure and thus present the greatest challenge to 
sustainability. Achieving sustainable outcomes will rely 
on prudent material use and shifting to environmentally 
preferable materials in order to protect human health 
by assessing and eliminating the long-term impacts of 
harmful chemical and biological materials. 

Research on long-term chemical and biological impacts 
(complementing research on resource conservation) 
addresses two major areas: (1) assessing chemical 
and biological impacts; and (2) substituting benign 
chemicals for toxic chemicals through green chemistry, 
nanotechnology, genomics, and other new technologies. 
Achieving sustainable outcomes will be aided by the 
enhanced ability offered by these technologies to detect 
and measure chemicals in humans and animals and to 
provide new ways of designing and manipulating 
new materials. 

ORD’s work in computation toxicology—using the latest 
advances in mathematical and computer modeling and 



genomics to prioritize, screen, and evaluate chemicals 
and predict potential toxicities—offers great potential 
for developing more sustainable products.^® ORD and 
other ERA researchers are also assessing the application 
of nanotechnology for developing more efficient and 
sustainable products. In a recent white paper assessing 
the risks and benefits associated with nanotechnology, 

ERA scientists recommended that the Agency “engage 
resources and expertise to support approaches that 
promote pollution prevention, sustainable resource 
use, and good product stewardship in the production 
and use of nanomaterials.Important new research 
efforts in ORD and in ERA program and regional offices 
are evaluating the green production of nanomaterials, 
including a life cycle assessment of nanomaterial 
production, and are developing decision support tools for 
bench chemists to evaluate the environmental dimensions 
of new chemicals and production processes. 

Key sustainability research goals thus include further 
developing new technologies that reduce or replace 
the use of toxic chemicals and measuring the potential 
environmental effect of these new technologies. The 
research topics listed below build on ORD’s development 
of research aimed at creating new catalysts to significantly 
improve the environmental effects of chemical 
manufacturing, innovative reactors and intensification 
techniques, and novel oxidation technologies that will 
allow the pulp and paper industry to meet new emission 
regulations. 

PRIORITY RESEARCH TOPICS 

• Develop and apply innovative chemical 
transformations utilizing green and sustainable 
chemistry and engineering. 

• Improve the yield, safety, and specificity of chemical 
processes by identifying appropriate solvents, 
controlling thermal conditions and purity, and 
recovering process catalysts or byproducts. 

• Eormulate products that reduce waste and that are 
environmentally benign. 

• Develop life cycle tools to compare the total 


environmental impacts of products generated from 
different processing routes and conditions. 

• Develop improved or accelerated methods for 
understanding the toxicology, kinetics, fate, and 
persistence of chemical substances. 

• Develop and implement models for the efficient 
application of life cycle analysis methods to new 
products and technologies including nanomaterials, 
green chemistry, and engineering. 

• Develop and implement systems-level methodologies 
and technologies for applying material flow analysis to 
complex industrial networks. 

• Develop improved methods for systems analysis of 
material flows that reflect the differences in health 
and environmental impacts of different substances. 

4. Human-Built Systems and 
Land Use 

In the past, little or no concern was given to how human- 
built systems might seriously impair or destroy the natural 
infrastructure and “ecosystem services” provided by the 
infrastructure, such as the ability to absorb and break 
down pollutants, cleanse air and water, and prevent 
flood and storm damage. However, the growth of urban 
populations over the last century has provided evidence 
that human-built systems can cause significant harm to 
ecosystems and to their ability to provide these critical 
services. Building on undeveloped land destroys and 
fragments habitat, displacing or eliminating wildlife 
communities. 


See ORD, “A Framework for Computational Toxicology." 
ERA 600/R-03/065 November 2003. 

See www.epa.gov/osa/nanotech.htm 


31 




The construction of impervious surfaces such as roads 
and rooftops leads to the degradation of water quality 
by increasing runoff volume, stream sedimentation and 
water acidity, altering regular stream flow and watershed 
hydrology, and reducing groundwater recharge. A one- 
acre parking lot produces a runoff volume almost 16 
times as great as would an undeveloped meadow of the 
same size. Achieving urban sustainability is clearly a 
challenge being addressed by many programs of EPA and 
other federal agencies. In this research strategy, research 
on urban sustainability and land use focuses on three 
key areas: building design and efficiency, urban land 
revitalization, and sustainable management of 
urban systems. 

Within urban communities, green building design is a 
crucial factor for sustainability since buildings account for 
65 percent of electricity consumption, 36 percent of total 
energy use, and 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. 
According to recent studies, in 2030 about half of the 
buildings in which Americans live, work, and shop will 
have been built after 2000. In 2030, there will be 106.8 
billion square feet of new development, about 46 percent 
more built space than existed in 2000—a remarkable 
amount of construction to occur within 30 years. About 
97.3 billion square feet of existing space will be replaced. 
New and replacement-related development will amount 
to 204.1 billion square feet, equal to almost 90 percent of 
the built space that existed in 2000. All of this amounts 
to about $30 trillion in total new development (including 
infrastructure) that will occur between 2000 and 2030. 
Research in indoor environmental management underway 
in ORD’s National Risk Management Research Laboratory 
is already well positioned to help shape the design of 
future indoor engineering systems. 

Research related to Built Environment and Land 
Use, while primarily directed toward sustainable land 
management, also serves to integrate nearly all of the 
sustainability goals discussed in Chapter 2. The operation 
of numerous and diverse human-built systems (e.g., 
buildings, cities, water distribution, energy, agriculture, 
and transportation) is fundamentally dependent on 
the health of the natural systems that provide critical 
ecosystem services. 


While broad in content, this theme focuses on land 
renewal and restoration, decision support tools for 
urban land development, and life cycle assessments 
for land use and building design. Research under this 
theme complements research described previously 
under Natural Resource Protection. Key elements of the 
implementing Science and Technology for Sustainability 
Multi-Year Plan (MYP) will focus on environmental impact 
modeling, including development of new impact models 
to characterize land use and smog formation, and on 
collaborative partnerships with many government and 
non-government entities to directly apply innovative 
systems-based approaches to urban and tribal planning. 

Direct ORD-supported research can address these 
immediate research questions: 

• What tools can decision makers use to assess the 
potential impacts of land use, landscaping, and 
building design decisions on community well-being 
and environmental quality? 

• What levels and types of human activities can be 
conducted within a given spatial area (such as 

a watershed or ecosystem) without critically and 
adversely altering biogeochemical cycles and 
ecosystem functioning? 

• What sustainability criteria should be developed 
to guide urban land development and future 
revitalization efforts? 

• What core set of principles can best be used to 
guide the design, construction, and management 
of human systems (such as land use, buildings, 
and transportation systems) in a manner that 
protects natural systems (such as habitats) and their 
properties (such as biodiversity) and functions? 


Arthur C. Nelson, “Toward a New Metropolis: The Opportunity to 
Rebuild America.” Washington: Brookings Institution Metropolitan 
Policy Program Survey Series, 2004. See www.brookings.edu/metro/ 
pubs/20041213_rebuildamerica.htm; and Arthur C. Nelson, 2006, 
“America Circa 2030: The Boom to Come,” Architect Magazine 
(October 15, 2006): www.architectmagazine.com/industry-news. 
asp?sectionlD=1006&articlelD=385542 


32 





• How do systems of land use, transportation, trade, 
and commerce contribute to the spread of invasive 
species and exotic pathogens? What actions can ERA 
take to manage this process? 

• What applications of new and emerging technologies 
can promote efficiencies in building design and 
restoration of contaminated sites? 

• What are the tradeoffs between resilience of the 
built environment (e.g., capacity to survive natural 
disasters) and ecological resilience? 

The growing enthusiasm for sustainability at state 
and local levels presents both new challenges and 
opportunities for ORD research, which has the technical, 
monitoring, and analytic capability to help decision 
makers at all levels of government choose courses of 
action that will lead to achieving sustainable outcomesA^ 
For example, ORD has been working with the German 
Federal Ministry for Education and Research since 
1990 on models of land restoration and development. 
Work under this bilateral agreement is now moving 
toward development of sustainability criteria for 
revitalization activities, and has resulted in the Sustainable 
Management Approaches and Revitalization Tools- 
electronic (SMARTe) program. SMARTe, which is now 
in beta testing, is an open-source, Web-based decision 
support system for developing and evaluating future reuse 
scenarios for potentially contaminated land.'^° SMARTe 
includes guidance and analysis tools for all aspects 
of the revitalization process, including planning and 
environmental, economic, and social concerns. 

The emphasis in this research strategy on developing 
decision support tools and helping decision makers reach 
wise decisions, challenges our scientists and engineers 
to work directly with key customers and stakeholders 
who can most benefit from ORD research capabilities. In 
many ways, ORD’s ability to identify research to inform 
stewardship solutions is intimately tied to partnering 
and collaborating with state, local, and tribal decision 
makers. An example is the Sustainable Environment for 
Quality of Life (SEQL) program, in which ORD is a key 
player, developing scientific models such as the Regional 


Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) to support sustainable 
land development. ORD’s research supports quantification 
of potential and actual impacts, including cross-sectoral 
and cross-jurisdictional analyses and analyses of “what-if” 
scenarios. 

SEQL and similar projects are successful because of the 
available suite of decision support tools and the direct 
participation by ORD scientists in community meetings 
and policy planning. This direct involvement is essential 
for applying ORD research to direct use. The BOSC review 
of the Ecological Research Program noted the successful 
use of ORD decision support tools, emphasizing that 
further applications “will require commitment of resources 
to technology transfer through both In-person and online 
training. 

5. Economics and Human Behavior 

The sustainable management of natural and man-made 
systems is partly a question of choice and behavior. For 
this reason, economics and the behavioral sciences are 
key elements in ERA’S overall approach to implementing 
the goals of Everyday Choices and achieving sustainable 
outcomes. The Office of Management and Budget 
(0MB) is requiring more and better economic analyses 
as essential components of the policy process used in 
ERA program and regional offices and in other federal 
regulatory agencies. 


See “Regional Summaries of State and Tribal Issues and Priorities for 
the 2006-2011 Strategic Plan Revision.” www.epa.gov/ocfopage/ 
plan/regions/index, htm 

See wvw.smarte.org/smarte/home/index.xml 

Board of Scientific Counselors, Review of Ecological Research Program 
Review. August 2005, pg. 18. www.epa.gov/osp/bosc/pdf/ 
eco0508rpt.pdf 


33 




External reviews by the SAB and the National 
Academy of Sciences have shaped much of EPA’s 
economic and behavioral research. For example, many 
recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences 
report commissioned by EPA and the National Science 
Foundation, Decision-Making for the Environment: 

Social and Behavioral Science Research Priorities, have 
been incorporated into ORD’s Environmental Economics 
Research Strategy (EERS), published in 2005. Economists 
are beginning to address the question of environmental 
sustainability and human carrying capacity as central 
factors in economic development.'’^ Economists and 
conservationists are also exploring ways to value 
ecosystem services and develop economic incentives 
for sustainable behavior. This is an important area for 
research since markets for ecosystem services do not 
generally exist. For example, owners of ecologically 
valuable land can generate more revenue from traditional 
land development than by providing ecological services. 
ORD-funded extramural research is also underway to 
understand why individuals, firms, and institutions behave 
as they do; what motivates them to change their behavior; 
and how government regulations, public information, 
corporate reporting, and public pressures interact to 
generate public policy. 

The Sustainability Research Strategy (SRS) and the EERS 
research strategies are complementary in approach and 
significantly contribute to EPA’s focus on stewardship 
and sustainability. The SRS presents a framework that 
highlights research areas of importance to support a 
forward-looking, integrated, and preventive approach 
to environmental protection. It guides the integration of 
relevant research across ORD and other offices, as well 
as connections outside of EPA. On the other hand, the 
EERS presents a focused analysis of Agency research 
priorities in Economics and Decision Sciences. EERS 
research priorities dovetail nicely with the SRS framework 
(see Chapter 6) and collectively can be used to address a 
number of important questions: 


• What factors increase or reduce motivation for 
sustainable behavior among individuals, firms, and 
organizations? How can we better integrate economic 
and ecological models to inform environmentally 
sustainable decisions? What is the relationship 
between environmental sustainability indicators and 
measures of economic value? 

• What are non-market ecosystem services, what is 
their value, and what ongoing factors are affecting 
their supply? To what extent can human-produced 
capital substitute for natural capital? 

• How can economic instruments (e.g., trading 
schemes, auctions, and taxes) be devised that 
effectively incorporate society’s concerns for 
sustainability in resource allocation decisions? 

• What should be the role of intergenerational 
discounting in benefit-cost analysis? 

• How can ecological resilience and the potential for 
major unforeseen events be incorporated in the 
selection and assessment of policy interventions? 


For rapporteur’s summary and presenters’ precis papers of the 
EPA-sponsored forum, “Sustainability, Well-Being, and Environment 
Protection: What’s an Agency to Do?” see wvvw.epa.gov/ 
sustainability/econforum 


34 




6. Information and Decision Making 

The goal of developing sustainability metrics builds on 
the research already conducted in support of EPA’s Draft 
Report on the Environment (RoE). ORD researchers 
have played a significant role in identifying appropriate 
indicators and providing quality control in their 
development. Currently, the RoE provides snapshots of 
the existing environmental state. Metrics are defined in 
relation to clearly stated questions such as, “What are 
the conditions and current trends of surface waters?” 
and “What are the trends in the ecological processes that 
sustain the nation’s ecological systems?” As EPA moves 
toward identifying a set of clearly articulated questions 
related to sustainable outcomes—such as, “How 
sustainable are the nation’s water supplies?”—research 
can focus on identifying appropriate indicators and 
ensuring their quality. 

The establishment of an information infrastructure is a 
necessary step on the path toward sustainability. This 
includes the development of sustainability metrics and 
environmental monitoring. Our strategy is therefore 
closely applied with the Global Earth Observation 
Systems of Systems (GEOSS) program. The GEOSS 
vision is of a future in which decisions and actions are 
informed by coordinated, comprehensive, and sustained 
earth observations and information. GEOSS will “take 
the pulse of the planet” by compiling a system of all 
relevant databases (or systems), thus revolutionizing 
our understanding of how the earth works. Over time, 
GEOSS will contribute greatly to sustainability by providing 
important scientific information for sound policy and 
decision making. EPA is contributing to GEOSS through 
its leadership in both the international Group on Earth 
Observations and the U.S. Group on Earth Observations 
and has launched the FY2006 Advanced Monitoring 
Initiative (AMI). 

One of the keys to promoting sustainability is defining 
and communicating a clear understanding of proposed 
outcomes. In Everyday Choices, EPA senior managers 
identified sustainable outcomes in six resource areas 
relevant to EPA’s mission (Table 4.1). The sustainability 
goals in energy, water, air, land, ecosystems, and materials 


provide an important starting point for discussion of 
appropriate sustainability goals and how they should be 
measured. A clear next step is to define these goals and 
metrics in sharper detail. 

This strategy aims to establish a new set of scientifically 
based sustainability indicators that are readily 
comprehensible at multiple scales, relevant to decision 
makers, and easily accessible to the public. 

ORD-supported research will address these 
research questions: 

• What are appropriate sustainability goals for energy, 
water, air, land, materials, and ecosystems? 

• What are the most appropriate trends, indicators, 
and metrics to measure society’s progress towards 
reaching sustainable outcomes? 

• What data are needed to construct sustainability 
indicators and metrics and how can the data be 
effectively and 

efficiently collected? 

These questions will be addressed in two ways. First, 
we will review metrics currently in use to determine 
where gaps exist. A number of fairly simple sustainability 
indicators currently exist, and while these measures may 
inform the public on the general notion of sustainability, 
they often lack scientific vigor. If sustainability is to play a 
significant role in future environmental policy debates, the 
process of establishing benchmark values and measuring 
progress must be vastly improved. The second track, 
in collaboration with EPA partners and customers, will 
involve research to identify new indicators and metrics and 
apply them to problems in specific geographic regions, 
ecosystems, and watersheds. This work is expected to 
result in a new set of well-defined metrics, protocols, and 
software tools that can be used by decision makers. This 
direction of research will be a major element of ORD’s new 
Science and Technology for Sustainability MYP. 


35 








Chapter 5. Research Objectives 


Our research strategy has five objectives: 

• Systems Understanding. Understand the interconnections, resilience, and 
vulnerabilities over time of natural systems, industrial systems, the built 
environment, and human society. 

• Decision-Support Tools. Design and develop scientific tools and models to assist 
decision makers. 

• Technologies. Identify and develop inherently benign and less resource-intensive 
materials, energy sources, processes, products, and systems, particularly for 
emerging technologies. 

• Collaborative Decision Making. Develop an understanding of motivations for 
decision making and develop approaches to collaborative problem solving. 

• Metrics and Indicators. Develop metrics and indicators to measure and track 
progress toward sustainability goals, to send early warning of potential problems 
to decision makers, and to highlight opportunities for improvement. 


The logic diagram of Figure 5.1 on the following page 
illustrates how these five research objectives relate to 
customers and collaborators, as well as to outcomes: 

(1) Systems Understanding informs the development of 
research in (2) Decision Support Tools, (3) Technologies, 
and (4) Collaborative Decision Making. This research 
informs policies and programs implemented by Customers 
and Collaborators, who can use relevant (5a) Metrics 
and Indicators to inform their plans and decisions and 


Imeasure progress toward their sustainability goals. 

A second category of larger-scale (5b) Metrics and 
Indicators can help in measuring and assessing overall 
progress in Resource Sustainability Outcomes and 
Long-Term Outcomes in environmental and human 
health. The larger-scale metrics and indicators also feed 
back to enable adaptive understanding and research 
needs in Systems, Decisions, Technologies, 
and Collaborative Decision-making. 


37 



Figure 5.1. Logic Diagram Illustrating Research Approaches 



38 





































Table 5.1. Research Topics Addressing Sustainability Themes and Objectives 




System 

Understanding 

Decision 

Support Tools 

Technologies 

Collaborative 
Decision Making 

Metrics and 
Indicators 

Renewable 

Natural 

Resource 

Systems 

Ecosystem 

resilience; 

Limits on 

resource 

extraction rates 

LCA; MFA; ISAs 

Green 

engineering 


Ecosystem 

resilience; 

Resource 

extraction rates 

Non-Renewable 

Natural 

Resource 

Systems 


LCA; MFA; ISAs 

Green 

engineering 


Material 

intensity 

Long-Term 
Chemical 
and Biological 
Impacts 


Chemistry 
design tools; 
Transport mod¬ 
els 

Green chemistry 


Environmental 

accumulation of 

chemicals 

Human-Built 

Systems 

Understanding 

interactions 

between 

human-built 

systems and 
natural cycles 

Design 

principles 

Green 

buildings; 

Emerging 

technologies 

ISA, Risk 

assessment 

models 

Industrial 

sustainability 

indicators 

Economics 
and Human 
Behavior 


Agent-based 

models 


Incentives and 

trading schemes 


Information and 
Decision Making 

Limits; 

Measures of 

resilience 


LCA 

Understanding 
value of 

information 



39 






















managing variability and uncertainty, 


Table 5.1 also relates the research objectives to the six 
research themes (defined in Chapter 4). For example, life 
cycle assessment (LCA) can inform understanding of a 
product’s consumption of renewable and non-renewable 
resources and associated emissions over the product’s 
life cycle. Material flow analysis (MFA) and integrated 
systems analysis (ISA) can be used to explore the possible 
implications of economy-wide patterns of consumption 
of renewable or non-renewable resources. ISA can also 
be used as a communication tool to enable collaborative 
decision making in the context of human-built systems. 
There are many relevant metrics and indicators in the 
theme areas, ranging from indicators of ecosystem 
resilience to sustainability indicators used by industry. The 
following sections further describe the various research 
objectives. 

Systems Understanding 

An underlying understanding of complex environmental- 
societal systems and the attributes and conditions that 
make them sustainable is the foundation of sustainability 
research. Going beyond a traditional, single-media, 
pollution-control and compliance-enforcement approach, 
this research strategy recognizes that no environmental 
problems have a single cause. Application of systems 
research has the potential to break down longstanding 
single-media approaches to environmental management, 
an issue of concern to ERA since its inception.'*^ 

Following the 2006 Science Advisory Board review 
of the Draft Guidance on Environmental Models and 
Models Knowledge Base, ERA is committed to enhancing 
interagency coordination on modeling issues and fostering 
a more integrated approach to modeling in environmental 
management.'” Describing, representing, and designing 
sustainable systems encompasses several important 
aspects: 

• addressing scale in time and space, 

• capturing the dynamics of the system and of society’s 
points of leverage or control over those dynamics, 

• representing an appropriate level of complexity. 


• capturing the various perspectives and desired 
sustainability outcomes in important domains (e.g., 
ecological, economic, technological, legal, and 
organizational), and 

• understanding the vulnerability or resilience of the 
system relative to both foreseen and unforeseen 
stressors and change. 

A systems view can also strategically inform both research 
and implementation. It can identify barriers, point out 
gaps or redundancy in activity, and inform prioritization 
of existing or potential research and implementation in 
technology, decision support tools, and collaborative 
decision making. 


When President Nixon proposed the creation of EPA in 1970, he 
recognized the interconnectedness of the environment and the 
inherent cross-media nature of environmental protection, His plan 
to establish EPA noted that, for pollution control purposes, “the 
environment must be perceived as a single, interrelated system” (see 
www.epa.gov/history/org/origins/reorg.htm). EPA has struggled since 
then with how best to deal with the environment as an integrated 
system. At the Agency’s 15th anniversary in 1985, Administrator 
Russell Train expressed his concern with its "compartmentalized 
nature” and resulting ineffectiveness in dealing with pollutants, 
which “tend to move readily among air, water, and land.” Similarly, 
Administrator Lee Thomas stressed the need for cross-media 
reviews so that “we don’t just transfer pollutants from one medium 
to another.” (See “Views from the Former Administrators,” EPA 
Journal, November 1985, available at wvwv.epa.gov/history/topics/ 
epa/15e.htm.) Administrator William Reilly encouraged cross-media 
approaches in the early 1990s by looking holistically at place-based 
issues, breaking down media barriers for risk assessment, providing 
cross-media training for staff, and conducting joint pilot studies with 
industry. Although EPA is today still organized along media lines, it 
recognizes the need to adequately address the cross-media nature of 
environmental problems. Sustainability concepts will help EPA break 
down barriers to its single-media-based program offices and look more 
holistically and systematically at integrated environmental challenges. 

^ See SAB report at: www.epa.gov/sab/panels/cremgacpanel.html 


40 




Figure 5.2. Technology Continuum 




Technologies 

Technology and technological systems are central 
for achieving sustainable use of renewable and non¬ 
renewable natural resources, as well as for developing 
alternative materials, chemicals, processes, and products 
that minimize or eliminate long-term chemical and 
biological impacts. 

The underlying scientific research, development of 
designs and applications, technology demonstration, 
and technology verification form a 10-year continuum 
as illustrated in Figure 5.2. Various advisory bodies 
have argued that commercialization and deployment 
of sustainable technologies require that the entire 
continuum be supported overtime. For example, EPA's 
National Advisory Committee for Environmental Policy 
and Technology Policy (NACEPT) has strongly endorsed 
EPA’s current technology and verification program and 
recommended that EPA “should devote more attention and 
resources to those Agency programs that incorporate and 
encourage sustainability as one of the goals or criteria for 
technology development or implementation assistance."''^ 
The EPA administrator has further charged NACEPT to 
examine the issue of sustainability in more detail (in 
2006-2007) and to make additional recommendations. 


Several areas of technology research are particularly 
important. The fields of green chemistry and green 
engineering address the design of molecules, products, 
processes, and systems that (1) use safer chemicals 
and materials; (2) use materials, water, and energy 
efficiently; and/or (3) reduce the generation of waste at 
the source. Green engineering and green chemistry are 
generally applied on a product-by-product or a process- 
by-process basis. While some of this technology research 
is supported by industry, EPA has an important role in 
supporting research that underpins general methodologies 
or addresses specific environmental problems or 
emerging issues of concern. 


National Advisory Committee for Environmental Policy and Technology 
Policy (NACEPT), Subcommittee on Environmental Technology, EPA 
Technology Programs and Intra-Agency Coordination, Washington: 

EPA lOO-R-06-004, May 2006. 


41 












More traditional technologies can also support progress 
towards sustainability. Technologies that provide safe 
drinking water and treat waste and storm water are prime 
examples. Aging water and wastewater infrastructure, 
together with a growing population, require the 
development of new technologies to provide cost-effective 
conveyance and treatment of drinking, waste, and storm 
water. In addition, the tightening of water supplies in 
parts of the United States and elsewhere in the world 
will require water conservation and reuse technologies to 
provide abundant, clean water for human consumption 
and the environment. To achieve this, both current and 
new technologies should be examined using a systems 
approach to assess their multimedia impacts over the long 
term to insure that they are compatible with environmental 
sustainability. 

Technology and technological systems can also be looked 
at more broadly in time and space. An economy-wide 
understanding of material flow systems, for example, 
can illuminate, and hence prioritize, opportunities for 
efficient pollution prevention and material use. This could 
be particularly important for materials that are potentially 
deleterious to the environment, used in high volumes, 
or both. 

Understanding the economic, informational, cultural, 
security-related, and other factors that can influence 
the development and adoption of new designs and 
technologies can inform research and development. 

In some cases these factors also relate to industrial 
organizational approaches, such as total quality 
management, the adoption of environmental management 
systems, or supply-chain management. 

Future scenarios can assist in envisioning potential 
implications of technological systems that are emerging 
or undergoing transformation. Such systems are affected 
by emerging technologies (such as nanotechnology), 
potential industrial transformations (such as distributed 
manufacturing), and changing consumption patterns. 
Understanding of changes such as these can inform 
research that enables the technological systems to 
support sustainability. 


Decision Making Tools 

Many types of tools and analytical models can inform 
decisions that contribute to environmental sustainability. 
While the primary stimulus for model development is 
to improve scientific understanding within the scientific 
community, tools developed from these models can 
enhance sustainability in at least two ways: (1) by 
providing credible, relevant, and timely research results 
that inform ERA policy decisions; and (2) by assisting 
individuals, businesses, communities, and government 
to better understand the potential implications of their 
decisions,'*^ thus enhancing the likelihood that decisions 
they make will be more environmentally sustainable. 

Environmental models may be descriptive (describing 
knowledge about specific phenomena) or prescriptive 
(informing a design or identifying a course of action). They 
necessarily rely on data and information related to a wide 
variety of human activities: 

• transportation, industry, agriculture, construction; 

• protection and consumption of resources (water, 
energy, materials, ecosystems, land, and air); 

• economics and characteristics of human 
behavior; and 

• natural phenomena such as weather patterns, and 
environmental conditions. 


As an example, EPA has adopted the MARKAL (for MARKet 
Allocation) model to assess current and future energy technology 
options. This comprehensive energy/economic model simulates a 
national, regional, or state-level energy system by representing the 
interactions between resource supply, conversion processes (e.g., 
refineries and power plants), end-use technologies (e.g., classes of 
light-duty personal vehicles or heat pumps), and demand for energy 
services (e.g., projected vehicle miles traveled or space heating). ORD 
is using its MARKAL model to help the Air Quality Assessment segment 
of EPA’s Global Change Research Program develop and analyze 
scenarios of technological change in the transportation and electric 
power sectors. The research aims to understand how technological 
evolution could impact future air emissions and to develop and provide 
an in-house energy/technology assessment capacity. 


42 







Important areas for research include the collection and 
synthesis of required data and information and the 
incorporation into generalized models. ORD will also assist 
other collaborators and stakeholders in implementing 
models. The following paragraphs explore several types of 
analytical models that can lead to tools that are especially 
relevant to sustainable decision making. 

Scenario models advance the understanding of 
environmental conditions over time through integrated 
systems analysis. These models allow users to 
dynamically explore the connection among choices 
over which society has some direct control (such as 
practices in transportation, energy, agriculture, and 
industry), broad societal trends (such as population and 
economic growth), and potential future environmental 
conditions.''^ These types of tools and models can help 
users understand critical thresholds and explore system 
response to abrupt change. They can also help diverse 
groups communicate about the future they desire and 
develop means and strategies to achieve this future. 

Geographic-based analytical models, such as landscape 
simulators and urban growth simulators, enhance 
understanding of environmental stressors and conditions 
in space. These models are particularly useful for 
understanding the implications of land-use decisions, 
such as transportation planning, location of buildings, and 
agricultural practices. Geographic-based analytical models 
can be integrated with economic models in powerful tools 
to inform sustainable development. 

Material flow-based models, such as life cycle 
assessment and material flow analysis, can link the use 
and processing of materials to potential implications for 
human health, environmental condition, and resource 
sustainability. They can inform improvements in the use 
of materials and design of products and also highlight 
opportunities for focused policy initiatives. In this regard, 
new methods that connect environmental impact analyses 
to material flow analysis would be especially useful.^^ 
Material flow-based tools can also be tied to life cycle 
cost analysis or economic input-output analysis so that 
environmental issues and costs can be seen in one view.''^ 


Agent-based models offer insight into the implications of 
how the actions of individuals add up to organizational 
or multi-organizational behavior. As overall organizational 
behavior may contribute to or detract from resource 
sustainability, the models can illuminate policy 
opportunities to further motivate stewardship behaviors by 
individuals, communities, industry, and government. 

The several varieties of models can be used in 
combination to develop powerful tools. All of the models 
can also be used in the context of uncertainty, such as 
through Monte Carlo simulations. 

Assessing the impacts of future scenarios on 
environmental outcomes is a key element of model 
development. 


Community Scale Air Quality Modeling (CMAQ) and Stream Water 
Quality Model (QUAL2K), both developed at ORD’s National 
Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL), are good examples of the 
scenario modeling efforts that may assist in evaluating the impact of 
development patterns and industrial practices on air and water quality. 

ORD’s National Risk Management Research Laboratory has been 
developing a very practical life cycle assessment tool that can 
aid scientists in developing more sustainable chemicals. The 
GREENSCOPE (Gauging Reaction Effectiveness for the Environmental 
Sustainability of Chemistries) indicator model was created to evaluate 
and compare the sustainability of chemical processes. If this model 
is applied on a large scale, as in the chemical industry, it can achieve 
sustainable outcomes. 

ORD’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) has 
recommended that ORD examine proposed new methodologies for 
assessing environmental impacts and provide guidance on appropriate 
support tools for policy-makers. Although material flow analysis is a 
valuable tool, its primary focus is on volumes and weights of materials. 
A clearer measure of environmental impact of 3R (Reduce, Reuse, 
Recycle) programs is needed. 

Two widely cited examples that link models and future planning 
are the 2002 "Willamette Alternates Future Analysis” available from 
the Western Ecology Research Laboratory of ORD’s National Health 
and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (www.epa.gov/wed/ 
pages/researchprojects.htm) and the Sustainable Environment for 
Quality of Life Program (SEQL) program. ORD is a key player in SEQL, 
developing scientific models such as ReVA to support sustainable 
land development. ORD’s research supports quantification of potential 
and actual impacts, including cross-sectoral, cross-jurisdictional, and 
"what-if” analyses. SEQL and similar projects are successful because of 
the available suite of decision support tools and the direct participation 
by ORD scientists in community meetings and policy planning. 


43 






EPA has begun to improve its modeling capability by 
considering scenarios including possible climate change, 
which may seriously impact future land use practices. 
Under the Integrated Climate and Land Use Scenarios 
(ICLUS) project, EPA is developing scenarios for land 
use, housing density, and impervious surface cover for 
the entire coterminous United States for each decade 
through 2100. These scenarios—which will be based 
on the social, economic, and demographic storylines of 
the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios prepared by 
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—aim 
to assess the effects of climate and land-use change 
across the United States and identify areas where climate- 
land-use interactions may exacerbate impacts or create 
adaptation opportunities. ICLUS scenarios will also be 
included in the forthcoming version of EPA’s BASINS 
model (to be released in winter 2007), allowing users 
to consider the impact of changes in both land use and 
climate change on water quality. 

Collaborative Decision Making 

Developing effective, innovative polices that promote 
sustainability depends on having an understanding 
of the motivation for decision making by businesses, 
communities, government, and individuals. Such 
innovative policy approaches include combinations 
of incentives, market mechanisms, information and 
education, regulation, and collaborative approaches. 

In an industrial context, effective and innovative policies 
depend on an understanding of the circumstances that 
encourage or discourage green product design and green 
supply chain management, and also an understanding 
of industrial supply-chain leverage points that underlie 
potential improvements in sustainability outcomes. 

Effective and innovative policies targeting individuals 
and households depend on an understanding of the 
factors that encourage green consumption, such as 
cost, information, convenience, peer pressure, and 
regulations. Effective policies supporting sustainable 
decision making for communities and local governments 
depend on an understanding of drivers and hurdles 
relating to the layout of buildings and to the design and 


implementation of transportation and energy systems. 
Policies and approaches can be improved through better 
understanding of how social groups make innovative and 
effective decisions. 

Because moving towards sustainability often requires 
negotiation and cooperation among stakeholders, 
collaborative approaches are particularly important. 

The related concepts of collaborative problem solving, 
cooperative conservation, and stewardship encourage 
stakeholders to come together to address common 
environmental issues. 

Scientists and scientific research can enhance and 
strengthen these collaborative approaches in two ways: 

(1) social science research can add to an understanding 
of the conditions under which collaborative approaches 
are effective; and (2) scientists and engineers can 
participate with policy makers and other decision makers 
in collaborative processes. These processes can also 
influence scientific direction by helping scientists to refine 
the scientific questions they ask and to more effectively 
communicate their research results. 

EPA supports programs designed to encourage 
environmental stewardship through collaboration at the 
community and regional levels. ORD’s Collaborative 
Science and Technology Network for Sustainability (CNS) 
(described in Chapter 6) is one of several programs that 
focus on collaboration and sustainability-related issues. 


All three concepts rely on strong scientific input to help decision¬ 
making achieve measurable and sustainable outcomes. Former 
EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt and current Administrator Steve 
Johnson have made collaborating problem solving an important 
element of EPA's governance agenda. Similarly, the concept of 
collaborative conservation as outlined in the Executive Order of August 
26, 2004 requires EPA and four other agencies to actively engage all 
stakeholders \when implementing conservation and environmental 
projects. Finally, EPA is promoting environmental stewardship — 
defined as shared values and responsibilities among stakeholders for 
environmental protection. 


44 




Metrics and Indicators 

Metrics and indicators enable EPA, other government 
agencies, businesses, communities, and individuals to 
understand the nature and degree of progress being 
made toward environmental sustainability. Metrics and 
indicators enable us to measure and track progress 
toward societal sustainability goals, send early warning 
of potential problems to decision makers, and highlight 
opportunities for improvement at local, regional, and 
global scales. Effective metrics and indicators require 
collecting, synthesizing, and communicating appropriate 
data and information—which requires understanding both 
what to measure and how to measure it. 

Understanding what to measure draws on an analysis 
of the flows, stressors, and changes over which decision 
makers have control. These flows, stressors, and 
changes can also be linked to resilience, vulnerability, 
warning signals, and limits to resource sustainability. 
Understanding howto measure can require research 
in sensors and sensor systems, statistical approaches 
to guide data collection and preliminary analysis, data 
mining, and other information technology approaches. 

Metrics and indicators are applicable at different scales. 

At the smallest scale are indicators with a feedback rate 
that can enable real-time adjustment of consumption, 
such as of electricity, gasoline, or water for a household or 
industrial facility. At the largest scale, indicators describe 
the condition of the national or global environment. A 
system of connected indicators that collectively describe 
the condition of the overall system at a local, regional, or 
global scale can inform effective decisions and strategies 
for moving toward sustainability. 

To begin to develop this multi-scaled system of connected 
indicators, this research strategy tentatively adopts the six 
proposed resource sustainability outcomes identified and 
defined by senior EPA managers in Everyday Choices: 
Opportunities for Environmentai Stewardship ao6 listed in 
Chapter 2 of this document: 

• Energy: Generate clean energy and use it efficiently. 

• Air: Sustain clean and healthy air. 


• Water: Sustain water resources of quality and 
availability for desired use. 

• Land: Support ecologically sensitive land 
management and development. 

• Materials: Use materials carefully and shift to 
environmentally preferable materials. 

• Ecosystems: Protect and restore ecosystems 
functions, goods, and services. 

These outcomes are a starting point for discussing and 
refining a set of sustainability outcomes and organizing 
sustainability indicators. ORD is leading a cross-Agency 
process that aims to refine and sharpen these desired 
outcomes at multiple scales and to assess whether 
currently available data and indicators are scientifically 
valid, useful, and sufficient. 

The indicators will build on and connect to the Draft 
Report on the Environment, which employed indicators 
that are fundamental measures of environmental 
conditions. The indicators being developed seek to go 
beyond the Draft A’oE indicators in four ways: 

• An expansion from media and ecosystems, to include 
resources such as materials and energy, contributes 
to an increased understanding of the interactions 
between society and the environment. 

• An increased focus on causal connections and 
correlations among indicators will enable better 
understanding of systems and will highlight 
opportunities for improvement. 

• A significant focus will be given to indicators that 
can inform decision making, particularly at local and 
regional scales. 

• The developed indicators may expand beyond the 
environment to social and economic dimensions. 


www.epa.gov/epainnov/pdf/rpt2admin.pdf. The outcomes are 
described more fully in Appendix D of the Technical Report for 
Everyday Choices at www.epa.gov/innovation/pdf/techrpt.pdf 


45 





n 1 , 

f V 
^ * 

1 \ ^ 1 

1/■ 
t/ 


Chapter 6. Roadmap for Implementation 


This research strategy will be implemented in several steps: 

• Demonstrate the value of sustainability research by identifying key priority 
national issues where application of sustainability approaches can be most 
effective in promoting sound and sustainable economic growth. 

• Transition the current Pollution Prevention and New Technologies Research 
Program into the Science and Technology for Sustainability (STS) 

Research Program. 

• Coordinate and integrate research across ORD that builds a critical knowledge 
base for sustainability, such as by identifying synergies, gaps to be filled, and 
high-priority emerging areas among existing research strategies. 

• Initiate and strengthen collaborations and partnerships—with EPA program 
and regional offices, other federal agencies, state and local governments, 
communities, industry, nonprofit organizations, universities, and international 
partners—that address critical sustainability issues and stimulate broader 
progress towards sustainability in both research and implementation. 


ORD Organization and Multi-Year Plans 

While the sustainability research focus is new for EPA, it 
complements ORD's traditional focus on risk assessment 
and risk management. ORD organizes its research into 
a number of media and cross-media MYPs, as shown in 
Table 6.1. MYPs identify long-term goals (LTGs), annual 


performance goals (APGs), and associated annual 
performance measures (APMs) for a 5-year period. MYPs 
are intended to be living documents and are updated 
as needed to reflect the current state of the science, 
resource availability, and Agency priorities. In ORD, MYPs 
are administered by national program directors (NPDs) 
who serve as ORD scientific leads for each subject area. 


47 



Table 6.1. ORD Multi-Year Research Plans Organized by EPA Strategic Goals 


EPA Strategic Goals 

ORD Multi-Year Research Plans 

Goal 1: Air 

Clean Air 

Goal 2: Water 

Drinking Water 

Water Quality 

Goal 3: Land 

Land Preservation and Restoration 

Goal 4: Communities and Ecosystems 

Ecological Research 

Human Health 

Human Health Risk Assessment 

Global Change 

Mercury 

Endocrine Disrupters 

Safe Pesticides/Safe Products 

Goal 5: Compliance and Environmental Stewardship 

Science and Technology for Sustainability 

Economics and Decision Science 


48 

















This research strategy is designed to guide all ORD 
research programs and MYPs toward achieving 
measurable sustainable outcomes. Building on the vision 
of environmental stewardship, this strategy will engage 
in research activities that will study the sustainability of 
systems (e.g., ecological, technological, and human- 
built) from a life cycle perspective. The results of this 
effort can be adopted by ERA stakeholders and partners: 
(1) individuals (via consumer choices), (2) communities 
(via ecosystem protection and infrastructure planning 
and management), (3) government (via facility planning 
and management, technology demonstrations, policies 
and regulations), and (4) companies (via product 
design, supply chain management, facility design, 
and management). ORD leadership on sustainability 
complements and supports shifts by ERA program offices 
toward material management and urban revitalization 
(Office of Solid Waster and Emergency Response), green 
chemistry (Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic 
Substances), low-impact urban development (Office of 
Policy, Economics, and Innovation), and sustainable water 
infrastructure and ecosystem and watershed management 
(Office of Water). 

Setting Priorities: Addressing 
National Issues 

Addressing research prioritization within a broad subject 
area such as sustainability is challenging. Because this 
research strategy lays out a new research approach 
for ORD, prioritization is especially difficult. In order to 
give ORD research planners in the various MYPs more 
flexibility and autonomy in selecting priority research 
areas, this strategy identifies guiding factors for selecting 
research priorities, rather than directly identifying the 
priority areas. The individual MYPs and their NPDs 
will more specifically identify their priority sustainability 
research areas. 


The report of the augmented SAB committee reviewing 
this research strategy made several recommendations on 
focus and priority: 

Recognizing that the Agency is poised to assume 
a global leadership role in sustainability research, 
the committee strongly recommends that, in light 
of ORD’s limited budget, the following parallel 
activities be conducted immediately: 

1. Conduct core research on sustainability 
focusing on the development of defensible 
sustainability metrics, and 

2. Implement a small number of Agency- 
sponsored technology demonstration projects 
that provide ORD with the opportunity 

to achieve significant visibility within the 
sustainability research arena. 

It is important that these demonstration projects 
move away from waste/end-of-pipe approaches 
towards a broader, system-based perspective.^^ 

Eive factors can guide selection of topics and design of 
programs under the MYPs: 

• High impact. The MYPs must pursue research with 
high scientific impact that addresses important 
national issues relevant to achieving sustainable 
outcomes. The development of knowledge in the 
theme areas discussed in Chapters 3 and 4 must 
enable the long-term and large-scale sustainability 
outcomes of the resource systems discussed in 
Chapter 2. Investing early to avoid or prevent 
problems is preferred. 


The SAB Committee proposed examples: “Examples of such projects 
might include an assessment from a sustainability perspective of: 

(1) biofuels policies and options, which are topical and encompass 
a broad range of issues and potential impacts on emissions of 
greenhouse gases, agriculture, dependence on imports of fossil fuels, 
etc. and may imply a variety of economic incentives; (2) a study of the 
hypoxic environment in the IGulf of Mexico or the Chesapeake Bay, 
and (3) wastewater practices and infrastructure needs in regions and 
cities with accelerated population growth.” 

WWW. e pa .gov/sa b/ pdf/sa b-07-007.pdf 


49 




True to EPA's intramural and extramural research 
capabilities. ORD intramural research capabilities 
serve a dual purpose of directly meeting program and 
regional office research needs and building capability 
for solving longer-term problems. Intramural 
programs can also serve as focal points for scientific 
and technical assistance centers to assist a variety 
of government and non-government stakeholders. 
ORD extramural research programs, such as the 
Science To Achieve Results (STAR) research grant 
program, can be used to explore new topical areas 
or research approaches and also to catalyze change 
in the broader national research communities. All of 
these capabilities can and should be drawn upon in 
an effective MYP. 

True to EPA's role. ORD should focus sustainability 
research in areas that are central to EPA’s mission, 
while collaborating with other agencies and 
organizations in areas where missions intersect. 

For example, EPA has a central research role of 
informing the long-term protection of water quality 
in watersheds, and it can collaborate with the 
Department of Energy to advance understanding of 
the environmental implications of emerging energy 
technologies. An effective MYP will address both 
types of research. 

Leveraging results. Research that ultimately 
influences design, decision making, or policies 
leading to resource sustainability on a sufficiently 
large scale is preferred. Leverage can occur through 
partnering in initial research or through transfer 
and diffusion of knowledge, methodologies, and 
approaches. 


• In a systems context. Research should be within a 
systems context. This is true for research leading to 
systems understanding but also for research leading, 
for example, to a decision-making tool that considers 
multimedia interactions within a geographic area, or 
to a technology that enables reduction of life cycle 
energy use for a class of products (see Figure 5.1). 

Balancing Research Needs 

In general, research needs far exceed available resources. 
Declining federal budgets for research and development 
require ORD to address conflicting needs and priorities 
and to establish a balance across research portfolios. 

Each MYP should consider each of the following criteria in 
its research portfolio: 

• As frequently emphasized by EPA's SAB, there 
should be a balance between known and emerging 
issues and problems. For example, because it is well 
known that energy and the environment will continue 
to be interconnected and linked to sustainability, it 

is important that ORD continue to support research 
at the nexus of energy and the environment. 
Nanotechnology, with its environmental implications 
and applications, is an example of an issue that EPA 
and ORD correctly identified as an emerging issue 
several years ago. 

• A balance among short- and long-term projects is 
also necessary. Investing in shorter-term projects 
permits more immediate demonstration of results, 
while wisely selected longer-term projects can 
represent valuable investments for the future. 



• A balance is required between projects that are 
central to EPA’s domain (such as watershed 
protection) and those that reside at the boundaries, 
such as the interplay between agriculture and 

the health of aquatic ecosystems. In the case of 
issues near the boundaries of EPA’s responsibilities, 
collaboration with other government agencies or 
private-sector organizations is particularly important. 

• A balance is needed between research that supports 
decision making within EPA program and regional 
offices and research that supports decision making in 
other local, state, or federal government organizations 
and in industry. 

• Finally, there should be a balance between projects 
that directly solve problems and those that aim to 
stimulate others by catalyzing or leading them. An 
example of the latter is investing in new branches 
of academic disciplines, such as investing in green 
chemistry through an extramural research program. 


The Sustainability Research Roadmap 

1. TRANSITION FROM POLLUTION PREVENTION 
TO SUSTAINABILITY 

The first element in ORD’s roadmap toward sustainability 
is the transition of the existing Pollution Prevention and 
New Technology MYP to a new Science and Technology 
for Sustainability (STS) MYP. The restructured program 
gives greater emphasis to key elements of sustainability 
research, including green chemistry and green 
engineering, systems studies, life cycle assessment, and 
technology verification. 

The long-term goals (LTGs) of the new STS MYP are 
outcome-oriented, providing technical support to broader 
regional and national sustainability policies and initiatives 
(Figure 6.1). 


51 



Figure 6.1. Long-Term Goals of Science and Technology for Sustainability MYP 



52 



















To accomplish these goals, regular and continuous 
assessment of environmental trends is needed, as well 
as thoughtful consideration of likely alternative future 
scenarios. Together, these considerations will inform the 
development of sustainability metrics (LTG 1) that will not 
only provide baseline information on the sustainability 
of systems, but will also allow the measurement and 
tracking of progress in achieving sustainable outcomes. 
Information gathered during the assessment of conditions 
and the development of metrics will provide researchers 
with information critical for developing and implementing 
decision-support tools (LTG 2) and innovative technologies 
(LTG 3) that will promote sustainable outcomes. 

Supporting the central theme of helping decision makers 
make better and more sustainable decisions, the STS 
includes two grant programs aimed at stimulating 
technology development and putting existing sustainability 
ideas into practice. 

The People, Prosperity, and Planet (P3) student 
sustainability design competition inspires and educates 
the next generation to research, design, and develop 
solutions to sustainability challenges in areas such as 
agriculture, materials and chemicals, energy, information 
technology, water, and the built environment. P3 students 
and their faculty advisors quantify the benefits of their 
projects in the environmental, economic, and social 
dimensions and advisors integrate the projects into their 
educational syllabi. Through the P3 program, students 
learn to work in a multidisciplinary environment and 
to make collaborative, interdisciplinary decisions. By 
integrating sustainability concepts into higher education, 
P3 is helping to create a future work force with an 
awareness of the impact of its work on the environment, 
economy, and society. 

The Collaborative Science and Technology Network 
for Sustainability (CNS) program supports consortia of 
government and non-government organizations on high- 
impact regional projects that explore and provide learning 
opportunities for new approaches to environmental 
protection that are systems-oriented, forward-looking, and 
preventive. The CNS program is described in more detail 
later in this section. 


2. COORDINATING AND INTEGRATING PRIORITY 
RESEARCH ACROSS ORD AND EPA 

The next element of the Sustainability Research Roadmap 
is coordinating and connecting existing ORD research 
programs. The resulting research portfolio is more 
integrated, will inform policy and decision making, and 
will illuminate further research priorities across ORD and 
the rest of EPA. The first step in this process is identifying 
the synergies and potential coordination among the other 
research strategies and MYPs (shown in Table 4.2) that 
will enhance ERA’S research contribution to sustainability. 
A model of synergies between the Sustainability Research 
Strategy (SRS) and the Environmental Economics 
Research Strategy (EERS) is shown in Figure 6.2. 

The EERS presents a focused analysis of Agency research 
priorities in economics and decision sciences, which are 
supported through the Economics and Decision Sciences 
(EDS) extramural research program. As shown, the 
identified EERS research priorities dovetail nicely with the 
SRS integrated framework as outlined in Chapter 4. 

The general intersection of behavioral science research 
and sustainability gives rise to the last two of the six SRS 
themes described in Chapter 4: Economics and Human 
Behavior and Information and Decision Making. These 
themes include five high-priority EDS research topics 
presented in the EERS consultation process: Health 
Benefits Valuation, Ecological Benefits Valuation, Market 
Mechanisms and Incentives, Environmental Behavior and 
Decision Making, and Benefits of Information Disclosure. 

These five EERS topics will in turn provide critical input 
into the SRS research objectives described in Chapter 
5. The penultimate goal of this research coordination is 
to provide the behavioral science research necessary 
for developing environmental policies that support 
sustainability outcomes and are cost-efficient over the 
long term. 


53 



Figure 6.2. Integrating the Environmental Economics Research Strategy (EERS) 
and Sustainability Research Strategy (SRS) 


Behavioral Sciences Research and Sustainability 

How individual, firm and institutional behavior enables and/or prevents sustainable outcomes 



1 

SRS Themes 


Economics and Human Behavior 


Information and Decision-Making 


_1 

1 

EERS Topics 


Health Benefits Valuation: Value 


Environmental Behavior and 



of mortality and morbidity risks 


Doricmn.Malrina- l-ln\A/ rnnQi impr<; 


associated with pollution 


1^1 1 1 V 1 VI f \ 1 1 1^ ■ 1 ^ 1 t O V<4 1 1 1 ^ 1 O 

and producers meet their 


Ecological Benfits Valuation: 


environmental obligations under 


Ecosystem services value 


mandatory and voluntary initiatives 


Market Mechanisms and Incentives: 


Benefits of Environmental Information 


Effectiveness and potential of 


Disclosure: How information disclosure 


trading programs 


improves efficiency of decision-making 



I 


1. Economic Instruments: Trading 
schemes and taxes 

2. Systems understanding through 
integrated ecological-economic 
models 

3. Economic sustainability metrics for 

individuals, business, policy makers to: 

• Make sustainable 
consumption decisions 

• Determine the business case 
for sustainability 

• Regulatory analysis 
(cost-benefit, 

cost-effectiveness analysis) 



1. Decision-support tools to help 
policy maker, corporate officials, 
engineers, local/regional planners 
identify and implement 
sustainable options 

2. Collaborative decision-making 



Cost-efficient environmental policies and outcomes for U.S. business and consumers. 


54 

















































The behavioral science and sustainability programs 
cooperated to organize a December 2005 workshop that 
examined economic aspects of sustainability, and plan to 
cooperate in developing future CNS, Market Mechanisms, 
and Environmental Behavior solicitations. In addition, the 
programs will coordinate with each other in synthesizing 
and communicating research results to support regional 
decision making as part of this collaborative element of 
the roadmap. Finally, the EDS program will contribute 
knowledge and insight on organizational behavior in 
the private sector that will inform ERA interaction with 
businesses on sustainability, part of this roadmap 
element. 

These examples illustrate collaboration that can be 
applied to other research strategies as well. The 
coordination and integration across research strategies 
will enable ORD and the rest of the Agency to identify 
knowledge gaps and to more effectively identify emerging 
priorities. This process will be ongoing, proceeding from 
the prioritization factors discussed earlier in this chapter. 


3. INITIATING AND STRENGTHENING 
COLLABORATIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS 

The third element in ORD's roadmap toward sustainability 
involves teamwork with a wide range of collaborators 
and partners: ERA program and regional offices, states, 
local governments; other federal agencies, universities, 
the business communities, and international agencies 
and organizations. After some general considerations, 
this section will explore each of these areas for ORD 
collaboration. 

ORD is in a unique position to lead in sustainability 
research and its connection to policy and decision 
making. As a science-based organization within a 
regulatory agency, ORD can provide leadership in the 
following ways: (1) provide integrated multimedia scientific 
information reflecting considerations beyond single media 
for more sustainable policies; (2) provide strong input into 
Agency indicators of environmental sustainability; and 
(3) collaborate with universities, nonprofit organizations, 
businesses, and research organizations in other countries, 
to better understand sustainability and to identify 
knowledge gaps and emerging priorities. 

A draft report to assist meeting deliberations for the SAB 
review of this research strategy called for ERA leadership 
in sustainability: 

There is a need for, and ERA should provide, 
leadership both internal to the Agency and 
external among the federal agency family and 
other organizations. ... ERA has an opportunity 
to coordinate and lead in the definition of 
environmental sustainability and in the use of 
related research products that will influence how 
other federal agencies and organizations move 
forward with their sustainability programs.^ 


www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/sustainability_for_chartered, 

boardjan_18_07.pdf 


55 




In implementing this research strategy, external 
collaboration and partnering with stakeholders and 
customers will be a key element of ORD’s management 
approaches. 

As a science-based organization, ORD faces the 
critical challenge of finding effective ways to deliver its 
research products to decision makers and to work with 
them to translate research into practical outcomes. 

ORD initiated its Collaborative Science and Technology 
Network for Sustainability (CNS) program on the premise 
that sustainable outcomes would best be achieved 
by collaborative problem solving in which scientists 
and decision makers together assess and understand 
implications of policy choices. In achieving sustainability, 
ORD scientists must strive to be both good scientists and 
good communicators. 


3.a. Collaboration with EPA Program and Regional 
Offices, States, and Local Governments 

Program Offices-. ORD research has traditionally served 
to address specific issues raised by EPA program offices. 
ORD NPDs are responsible for coordinating with program 
offices to identify critical research gaps. EPA program 
offices have identified a number of sustainability-related 
research questions that are reflected in existing MYPs and 
in the new Science and Technology for Sustainability MYP. 
Many of these program office activities reflect applications 
of sustainability research supported by ORD and defined 
in this strategy. These activities include a focus on 
systems or multimedia approaches, sustainable design, 
system resilience, and collaborative and community- 
based problem solving. 

The challenge ahead is to coordinate research that 
may involve several program offices and NPDs. One 
example illustrates how the common goal of sustainability 
is reflected in program offices and MYPs around the 
research theme of urban sustainability (human-built 
systems and land use). Table 6.2 identifies a number of 
key Agency programs related to the common goal 
of a sustainable built environment. 



Table 6.2. EPA Programs Related to the Built Environment 


Media, EPA Programs, and Program Offices^^ 

Program Objectives 

Land: Smart Growth (OPEI) 

Help design low-impact and green communities through sharing 
best practices and promoting 10 development principles. 

Land: SMARTe (ORD) 

With Web-based decision-support tool, help developers evaluate 
future reuse options for a site or area. 

Land: Brownfield Revitalization (OSWER) 

Revitalize contaminated sites to be economically productive. 

Land: Environmentally Responsible 
Redevelopment and Reuse (ER3) (OECA) 

Use enforcement and incentives to promote sustainable 
development of contaminated sites. 

Water: Sustainable Water Infrastructure (OW) 

Better manage utilities, full-cost pricing, efficient water use, and 
watershed approaches. 

Water: WaterSense (OW) 

Help conserve water for future generations by providing 
information on products and programs that save water without 
sacrificing performance. 

Water: National Pollution Discharge 

Elimination System (OW) 

Control water pollution by green infrastructure and regulating point 
sources that discharge pollutants into waters of the United States. 

Energy Use: Energy Star (OAR) 

Evaluate and test energy efficiency of products in more than 50 
categories; provide information on green building design and 
energy efficiency. 

Air: Air Toxics Strategy (OAR) 

Identify and monitor urban air toxics from stationary, mobile, and 

indoor sources. 

Air: Community-Based Air Quality 

Programs (OAR) 

Support air toxics projects in about 30 communities across the 
nation, helping inform and empower citizens to make local 
decisions concerning the health of their communities. 

Indoor Air: Indoor Environment 

Management Research (ORD) 

Develop better understanding of the relationship among indoor 
air quality and emissions sources, heating, ventilating, and 
air-conditioning systems, and air-cleaning devices. 

Climate: Climate Impact Assessment 

Research (ORD) 

Integrate remote and ground-based data and dozens of models to 
assess potential impacts of climate change. 


OPEI: Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation; ORD: Office of Research and Development; OSWER: Office of Solid Waste and Emergency 
Response; OECA: Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance; OW: Office of Water; OAR: Office of Air and Radiation. 


57 



























Achieving sustainability in the built environment is clearly 
a national challenge that is being addressed by many EPA 
programs that cut across program offices and strategic 
goals. These programs include building design and 
energy efficiency, urban land revitalization, smart grovvth, 
management of urban systems and water infrastructure, 
and improving air quality. ORD’s challenge is to help 
define the underlying research needed to support these 
programs and work to provide the integration across 
program offices and MYPs. 

ORD has also begun working with program and regional 
offices to identify indicators that define and measure 
trends related to the sustainability outcomes identified in 
Chapter 2. The emergence of the focus on sustainability 
outcomes reflects the evolution of thought in EPA on how 
best to address mission responsibilities. This new effort is 
linked to EPA’s Report on the Environment and its Draft 
Strategic Plan 2007-2012. 

Regional Offices: Because ORD is committed to working 
closely with EPA regional offices, ORD has created the 
positions of regional science liaisons in each region. 

Many regional offices have identified sustainability-related 
issues as major priorities. The existing Regional Applied 
Research Effort (RARE) program provides the regions 


with near-term research on priority region-specific science 
needs, and improves collaboration among regions and 
ORD laboratories and centers. Each year, ORD provides 
funding for each region to develop a research topic, which 
is then submitted to a specific ORD laboratory or center 
as an extramural research proposal. Once approved, 
the research is conducted as a joint effort, with ORD 
researchers and regional staff working together to meet 
region-specific needs. 

RARE provides a means to address a number of 
sustainability issues. Past RARE research topics have 
touched upon all aspects of environmental sciences, from 
human health concerns to ecological effects of various 
pollutants. The RARE program also supports Regional 
Science Topic Workshops, which aim to improve cross- 
Agency understanding of science issues and develop 
a network of EPA scientists working on selected topics. 
These programs provide sound foundations for those who 
will continue to exchange information on science topics 
as the Agency moves fonA/ard in planning education, 
research, and risk management programs. 

Several national issues relevant to all EPA regions offer 
special potential for ORD cooperation with regional 
offices. Two of the most often cited national issues that 


58 



affect regions in different ways are energy generation 
and use, and ecosystem management. National attention 
to issues like geochemical life cycles (e.g., nitrates) 
involves complex interactions across regions. ORD’s 
implementation of the Sustainability Research Strategy 
points to a need for stronger coordination across ERA 
regions on key national issues. 

State and Local Governments: ORD recognizes that many 
critical decisions on sustainability—such as urban growth 
and development, ecosystem protection, water and energy 
use, and human health—are made at state and local 
levels. In addressing these areas, decision makers must 
anticipate potential social and environmental conditions 
(future scenarios) and work to integrate media (air, water, 
and land) impacts through a systems approach. 

To better understand such high-priority regional 
sustainability issues, ORD and the Office of Policy, 
Economics, and Innovation (OPEI) have initiated outreach 
to state, local, and tribal governments. This interaction 
will enable ORD to contribute to the identification and 
scientific understanding of the longer-term societal 
issues that will likely affect EPA's mission responsibilities 
at regional and national levels. ORD will also be able to 
contribute possible solutions and management options 


in the form of technologies, decision-making tools, and 
collaborative problem solving. 

The CNS program is a significant part of ORD’s strategy 
to support the application of science to local and regional 
decision making in pursuit of sustainability. Table 6.3 
shows the projects and collaborators funded through the 
first CNS solicitation. 


59 



Table 6.3. Projects and Partners of the Collaborative Science and Technology Network for 
Sustainability 


1 

Project 

Grantee 

Partners and Collaborators 

Moving Toward Sustainable 

Manufacturing Through Efficient 

Materials and Energy Use 

Northeast Waste 
Management Officials’ 
Association 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts 

Multi-Objective Decision Model for 

Urban Water Use; Planning for a 

Regional Water Reuse Ordinance 

Illinois Institute of 
Technology 

State of Illinois, City of Chicago, Fox Metro Water 
Reclamation District 

Ecological Sustainability in Rapidly 
Urbanizing Watersheds: Evaluating 
Strategies Designed to Mitigate 

Impacts on Stream Ecosystems 

University of Maryland 
- College Park 

Montgomery County, U.S. Geologic Survey 

Using Market Forces to Implement 
Sustainable Stormwater Management 

City of Portland, 

Energy Office 

Portland State University, University of Oregon, 

Willamette Partnership 

Sustainable Sandhills: Development a 

Plan for Regional Sustainability 

Sustainable Sandhills 

State of North Carolina, Sandhills Area Land Trust, 

Base Closure and Realignment Regional Task Force, 
Southeast Regional Partnership for Planning and 
Sustainability, National Association of Counties 

Sustainability of Land Use in 

Puerto Rico 

Universidad 

Metropolitana 

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, US Forest Service, 

Puerto Rico Planning Society 

Transforming Office Parks Into 

Transit Villages 

The San Francisco 
Foundation Community 
Initiative Funds 

Hacienda Business Parks Owners Association, 

Cambridge Systematics, Inc., Oracle 

Industrial Ecology, Pollution Prevention 
and the Nev^ York/New Jersey Harbor 

New York Academy of 
Sciences 

Rutgers University, Manhattan College, General 

Electric, State of New Jersey, State of New York, 

Columbia University, Port Authority of New York and 

New Jersey, New York City, Natural Resources Defense 
Council, Hudson River Foundation 

Harnessing the Hydrologic 

Disturbance Regime: Sustaining 

Multiple Benefits in Large River 

Floodplains in the Pacific Northwest 

Oregon State University 

University of Oregon, Willamette Partnership, State 
of Oregon, City of Eugene, City of Corvallis, City of 

Albany, U.S. Dept, of Agriculture, U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service 

Bringing Global Thinking to Local Sus¬ 
tainability Efforts: A Collaborative Project 
for the Boston Metropolitan Region 

Tellus Institute 

(Boston) Metropolitan Area Planning Council, 

The Boston Foundation, Commonwealth of 

Massachusetts 

Integrating Water Supply 

Management and Ecological 

Flow Water Requirements 

The Nature 

Conservancy 

Tellus Institute, Tufts University, State of Connecticut 

Cuyahoga Sustainability Network 

University of Maryland 
Baltimore County 

Cleveland State University, University of Iowa, Kent State 
University, Chagrin River Watershed Partners, Euclid 

Creek Watershed Council, West Creek 

Preservation Committee 

Framework for Sustainable 

Watershed Management 

Delaware River Basin 

Commission 

Monroe County, State of Pennsylvania, U.S. 

Geological Survey, Brodhead Watershed Association 


60 

























CNS grantees draw on decision-making tools derived 
from analytical models and on collaborative approaches 
to practical problem solving that support progress at 
a regional scale toward the sustainability outcomes 
identified in Chapter 2. 

The CNS-supported Sustainable Sandhills project in North 
Carolina is a model of such integrated decision making for 
sustainable outcomes. A non-profit institution (Sustainable 
Sandhills) is serving as a convener for the U.S. Army, 
the state of North Carolina, and dozens of local and state 
communities. EPA’s Region 4 is collaborating with ORD 
ecologists and state of North Carolina scientists to develop 
a set of analytical decision support tools derived from 
geographic information linked to ecological models and 
future scenarios. The goal is an effective regional plan that 
meets long-term community goals and is cost-effective, 
environmentally sound, and sustainable. 

The Sustainable Sandhills example reflects a general 
strategy of integrating and synthesizing knowledge 
generated across various research programs inside and 
outside of EPA to more effectively address sustainability- 
related questions at the regional level. This example 
illustrates how regional projects can serve as integrating 
mechanisms for ORD research strategies. Sustainable 
Sandhills and other regional projects may assist ORD in 
identifying additional important core research questions 
and prioritizing needs in the development of fundamental 
research methods. 

Lessons learned from the CNS program will be shared 
with regions and communities that work with EPA 
through other programs, such as Community Action for 
a Renewed Environment (CARE), EnvironmentalJustice 
Collaborative Grants, Targeted Watershed Grants, and 
Brownfields Technical Assistance. 


3.b. Interagency Collaboration 

While EPA is the lead federal agency in environmental 
compliance and enforcement, its overall and 
environmental research budgets are small relative to the 
federal government as a whole. In energy, transportation, 
agricultural management, and other areas, EPA supports 
and complements other federal lead agencies. A national 
goal of sustainable development can only be achieved 
through integrated and coherent polices across federal 
agencies. 

In implementing this research strategy, ORD will build 
on existing partnerships and seek new collaborations 
with other federal agencies.In 2004, ORD partnered 
with the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive 
(OFEE) to organize a sustainability workshop among 
federal agencies. The workshop revealed a wealth of 
federal activities but a paucity of coordination and policy 
coherence among the activities. This led to the creation 
of a Stewardship and Sustainability Council organized by 
OFEE and EPA. ORD intends to continue working with 
OFEE to coordinate and integrate sustainability efforts 
with other federal agencies and to pursue interagency 
collaboration that links research and application. 

Areas of mission focus and supported research among 
federal agencies corresponding to the six sustainability 
outcomes from Chapter 2 are shown in Table 6.4, which 
highlights opportunities for interagency collaboration and 
coordination. 


The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), which 
coordinates science and technology in federal agencies, has focused 
on a number of macro research and technology issues including 
industrial innovation, competitiveness, and nanotechnology. Extensive 
interagency coordination also focuses on climate change assessment 
and research, earth observations and GOESS, and ocean sciences. 
Water availability and quality and ecosystem services are emerging 
issues under interagency discussion. 


61 





Table 6.4. Opportunities for Research or Program Collaboration across Agencies, 
by Sustainability Resource Area 

• - Some Opportunity • • - Strong Opportunity | 

Agency 

Air 

Ecosystems 

Energy 

-1 

Land 

Materials 

Water 

DOD 


• 

• 

• • 

• 


DOE 

• 


• • 




DOI 


• • 


• • 

• • 

• • 

DOT 

• • 


• 

• • 



EPA 

• • 

• • 

• 

• • 

• 

• • 

NASA 

• • 






NOAA 

• • 





• • 

NSF 

• 

• • 

• 

• 

• • 

• • 

USDA 




• • 

• 

• 


57 


DOD: Department of Defense; DOE: Department of Energy; DOI: Department of the Interior; DOT: Department of Transportation; NASA: National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration; NOAA: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; NSF: National Science Foundation; USDA: U.S. 
Department of Agriculture. 
























One example of federal interagency cooperation is 
the emergence of partnerships on sustainable land 
management. USDAand DOI’s U.S. Geological Survey 
each support research related to land management 
and development. DOD’s Department of the Army is 
increasingly focusing on its stewardship of land on and 
around military bases. DOI and USDA’s Forest Service 
are partnering in activities related to healthy forests, 
ecological services, and management. New partnerships 
are also emerging around the issue of biofuels and 
energy conversion. DOE and USDA co-chair the Biomass 
Research and Development Board (which also includes 
DOI, DOT, ERA, OSTP, and OFEE) mandated by the 
Energy Policy Act of 2005. DOE and USDA are also 
leading efforts to develop a comprehensive Federal 
Biofuels Work Plan that will define an overall interagency 
biomass strategy incorporating topics such as feedstock, 
conversion technology, biofuel infrastructure, and 
communication, education and outreach. Sustainability- 
related objectives are emphasized in the Energy Policy 
Act, which directs the secretaries of Agriculture and 
Energy, in consultation with the EPA administrator and 
heads of other appropriate departments and agencies, to 
direct research and development toward "a diversity of 
sustainable domestic sources of biomass for conversion to 
biobased fuels and biobased products” and “to maximize 
the environmental, economic, and social benefits of 
production of biobased fuels and biobased products on a 
large scale through life-cycle economic and environmental 
analysis and other means.” 


3.C. University Collaboration 

University communities are embracing sustainability 
in facility operations, community development, and 
academic programs. With endowments and local funds, 
many universities have created new academic centers for 
sustainability systems sciences, resilience, green design, 
and green chemistry. Many joint programs exist between 
business schools and environmental programs. 

ORD has developed strong ties with the university 
community through its extramural STAR research 
grants (including CNS) and fellowship programs. ORD’s 
P3 student sustainability design competition and its 
engineering curriculum benchmarking project are 
catalyzing leadership within academia. Going beyond 
these grant-related activities, ORD aims to foster closer 
ties among universities, ORD laboratories, and other 
EPA program and regional offices to boost research 
on current environmental problems, potential future 
problems, and sustainable solutions. Toward this goal, 
ORD began in 2006 to conduct visits to major university 
sustainability research centers to discuss coordination 
and collaboration on emerging research issues. ORD aims 
to partner with many more academic centers to ensure 
that scientific advances are translated into practical 
management approaches. By interacting with universities 
and investing in research and education, EPA can support 
the development and refinement of academic fields that 
contribute to sustainability.^® 


58 


ERA’S Smart Growth Program has made the greening of universities 
and their surrounding communities a priority issue. 




3.d. Collaboration with the Business Community 

Recognizing that business leadership and decisions 
taken by industry have a strong influence on progress 
towards sustainability, ORD is pursing a two-fold strategy 
with private industry: (1) ERA engages in a broad 
conversation with the business community to collectively 
and strategically identify and address sustainability- 
related problems; and (2) Drawing on knowledge gained 
from the EDS research program, ERA will analyze and 
document the business case for sustainability, bringing 
a better understanding of short- and long-term business 
motivation to inform ERA programs. 

3.e. International Collaboration^ 

Five years after the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable 
Development (WSSD), many developed and developing 
nations. United Nations agencies, and non-government 
organizations are aggressively pursuing sustainable 
development objectives. The WSSD launched hundreds 
of Rartnerships for Sustainability among governments 
and non-government organizations to address a broad 
range of sustainability issues. Significant science and 
technology cooperation and agreements are underway 
within the OECD and among the G8 nations. The G8 2003 
Science and Technology for Sustainable Development 
Action Rian focuses on areas that are central to ERA: 
coordination of global observation systems through the 
Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS); 
cleaner, more efficient, and sustainable energy use; 
agricultural productivity and sustainability; and biodiversity 
conservation. 

Several European Union member countries have also 
developed their own sustainability research strategies. 

The European Union's newly launched 7th Research 
Framework (2007-2013) supports basic research 
in several areas related to sustainable development 
including sustainable health care, sustainable production 
and management of biological resources, sustainable 
production and consumption patterns, sustainable 
transport and energy systems, sustainable greenhouse 
gas reductions, and technology development and 
verification. 


ORD intends to take advantage of the increasing 
global interest in sustainability to pursue international 
partnerships to support sustainability research and the 
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. ORD 
has begun to expand its collaboration with the European 
Commission in areas that support the research identified 
in Chapter 4. These areas include environmental and 
sustainability indicators, uncertainty in environmental 
models, development of decision-support tools and 
environmental technologies, nanotechnology uses, and 
sustainable chemistry. In October 2006, ERA signed 
an agreement for research collaboration with China. 

A February 2007 agreement signed by ERA and the 
European Union director general for research has 
launched a cooperative research and eco-informatics 
program that provides a new framework for cooperation 
between the ERA and several European Commission 
directorates. 


These ORD activities complement EPA’s traditional regulatory 
and voluntary programs. The Agency has more than 65 voluntary 
programs that encourage business to move beyond complying with 
environmental laws to implement sustainable operations. Programs 
such as Performance Track operate at the facility level while others, 
such as the Sectors Program, work across whole industrial sectors. 
EPA’s Climate Leadership program aims at voluntary reduction of 
greenhouse gas emissions. The High Production Volume Challenge 
Program aims to provide the public with information on many 
high-volume chemicals. These and many other programs are part 
of EPA’s efforts to advance environmental stewardship and 
sustainable outcomes. 

Links to many of these international programs and research strategies 
are available at EPA’s Sustainability Web site.- www.epa.gov/ 
sustainability/international.htm 


64 






Implementing the Sustainability 
Research Strategy for a Sustainable 
Future 

Advances in science and technology form a foundation 
that can lead to a wide array of opportunities for 
advancing toward 
a sustainable future: 

• Science and technology can enable communities, 
nations, and industries to measure, monitor, and 
characterize pollutants and environmental conditions. 

• Models and data analysis techniques—ranging 
from chemical design tools based on computational 
toxicology to material flow analysis—can help society 
to better understand environmental conditions, their 
underlying social and economic causes, and their 
effects on human health. 

• Technological advances—such as those achieved in 
green chemistry and engineering—can enable society 
to use resources more efficiently and to prevent or 
reduce pollution and the associated risks to human 
health and the environment. 

• Futures analysis can assist society in better 
anticipating and preparing for potential social and 
economic changes—such as the predicted industrial 
transformation growing out of the convergence of 
nanotechnology, biotechnology, and information 
technology—and resulting environmental changes. 

• Finally, science and technology can help to develop 
tools for supporting decision making that advances 
the protection of human health and the natural 
environment now and for future generations. 


In short, this Sustainability Research Strategy serves 
our society’s environmental needs in ways that also 
support our economy and society. The potential long-term 
national benefits of pursuing the research identified in the 
Sustainability Research Strategy are clear and compelling: 

• It will enable communities and regions to 
envision, plan, and manage their natural and 
built environments so that materials and energy 
are conserved and the quality of air and water is 
protected while economic and social needs are met. 

• It will enable industry and consumers to benefit from 
advances in scientific understanding and technology 
so that resources are conserved and the environment 
and public health are protected while economic and 
social objectives are met. 

• It will give ERA and the nation more options to 
protect human health and the environment for future 
generations, informed by an improved understanding 
of systems in the natural and built environments. 


65 




For more information on 
the ORD Sustainability 
Research Strategy, 
please contact: 

Sustainability Program 
Office of Research and Development 
Mail CodeSlOlR 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. 
Washington, D.C 20460 



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